Coming Back and Giving Back: Transposition, Institutional Actors, and the Paradox of Peripheral Influence*

Abstract

We explore transposition—bringing ideas from one context to a distant other context—as a mechanism for institutional change, and we study the conditions under which institutional actors successfully undertake it. Prior work on transposition has emphasized the paradox of embedded agency: actors embedded in a context may struggle to effect change because they lack exposure to fresh ideas. We complement this work by arguing that transposition is also subject to a paradox of peripheral influence: actors not embedded in a context, who may be a source of fresh ideas, can struggle to effect change because of their peripheral or outsider status. We suggest that these dual paradoxes can be overcome by actors who simultaneously have exposure to alternative institutional environments and are sufficiently embedded in the focal field to gain trust and buy-in from other decision makers. Such actors can both see the potential of new ideas and navigate their implementation successfully. We identify returnees from abroad, who have studied or worked elsewhere and then emigrated back to their home country, as one such type of actor. Using data on publicly listed Chinese companies from 2000 to 2012, we show that the presence on firms’ boards of directors of returnees with relevant exposure abroad significantly raises firms’ participation in corporate social responsibility, specifically in the form of making corporate donations. Supporting our theorizing about the two paradoxes, the effect of returnees is stronger when they or their board allies have greater exposure to foreign experience and greater embeddedness in the local context. The effect is also stronger when field conditions, such as insufficient economic development, present greater need for change.

Leading in an Amish Paradise: humanistic leadership in the Old Order Amish

“…This paper takes a middle-ground approach: we resist the urge for crude generalizability because the forms and practices of leadership in any community are deeply embedded in the specific cultural fabric of that community and thus are rooted in their particular histories, identities, values and worldviews. In place of "generalizability," we prefer the term "transposability" to highlight how ideas and practices can travel across different contexts and influence one another (Luo et al, 2020;Sewell, 1992). Transposability means that ideas from one context can enter another context and lead to formation of new practices consistent with the latter context's culture and values.…”

The Impact of Directors’ Foreign Experience on Environmental Information Disclosure: Evidence from Heavily Polluting Chinese Firms

“…This may be because they are exposed to advanced CSR and environmental practices, which is a positive incentive. For instance, Luo et al (2021) find a positive and significant association between directors' overseas experience and corporate donations. A recent study by Ullah et al (2021) finds that directors with foreign experience positively enhance the stock price informativeness in Chinese listed firms.…”

“…For instance, Luo et al. (2021) find a positive and significant association between directors' overseas experience and corporate donations. A recent study by Ullah et al.…”

A Confluence of Tech and Talent: Rural Online Entrepreneurship and Return Migration

“…These studies have generally found that returnees, typically returning from more advanced economies to their home countries, cast a positive influence on the performance of local firms due to their possession of non-local knowledge and their ability to acquire resources more efficiently [3], especially when returnees are embedded in local networks [17]. More recently, Luo and colleagues conceptualize Chinese returnees from abroad as "institutional carriers," who are uniquely able to transfer foreign ideas (e.g., corporate social responsibility practices) to local businesses [18]. Whereas these returnee studies generally treat the level of return migration as a given, our study shows that migrants' decisions to return are non-trivial because migrants are hindered by pre-existing barriers, the lifting of which may generate new and betterperforming businesses.…”