Staggered board, social capital and sustainability

Abstract

Maintaining good relationships with internal and external stakeholders can help companies gain competitive advantages and mitigate risks associated with social factors.However, building social capital is not an easy task, as it requires management to prioritize long-term goals over short-term gains. The board of directors is expected to ensure that management maximizes shareholders' value, commits to strengthening its relationship with stakeholders, and engages in socially responsible activities. These expectations depend heavily on the quality and effectiveness of the board. Certain board characteristics may impede its ability to drive long-term vision or create good stakeholder relationships, leading to a decline in the company's social capital. In this paper, we analyze board characteristics of publicly listed US firms, focusing on staggered boards, and find evidence supporting the agency theory that staggered boards adversely affect firms' social capital. To ensure the robustness of our analysis, we conduct additional analyses including propensity score matching, entropy balancing, and instrumental-variable analysis.

Synergizing board dynamics, sustainability, and strategy for international success

“…Moreover, organizational sustainability initiatives frequently involve the formulation of a distinct company strategy that places emphasis on environmental and social responsibility (Sharma & Henriques, 2005). Utilizing the board's social influence to improve connections with stakeholders that prioritize sustainability supports in incorporating sustainable corporate strategy (Likitapiwat & Treepongkaruna, 2022). Sustainability, when incorporated into a corporate strategy that emphasizes cost efficiency and global competitiveness, acts as a mediating factor that strengthens the connection between board characteristics (social capital), resource allocation and innovation components of the corporate strategy.…”

“…Finally, the research indicates that sustainability acts as a moderator, actively influencing the relationship between the board's human capital and corporate strategy, particularly in the context of sustainability‐driven strategies (Amran et al, 2021; Likitapiwat & Treepongkaruna, 2022). This strategic alignment is anticipated to improve the organization's continuing positioned and promote long‐term success and competitiveness.…”

Board of directors and firm resilience from a social capital perspective

“…Not all resources stem from the BoD or top management team; other firm members can contribute resources. FSC–the resources and knowledge derived from family firm relations with other actors–offers exceptional advantages to firms (Hoffman et al, 2006; Likitapiwat & Treepongkaruna, 2023; Mengke et al, 2023; Romano et al, 2020; Tran & Adomako, 2021). Family firms possess a unique FSC stemming from the relationships among family members (Herrero, 2018).…”

The Effect of Open Innovation on Manufacturing Firms’ Performance in China: The Moderating Role of Social Capital

“…Then, Bourdieu introduced it into sociology [51], based on which Nahapiet and Ghoshal proposed the definition of social capital at the firm level, where they considered it the sum of the resources that have and have not been obtained from a social network [52]. Since there are many different sources of social capital at the firm level-individuals, personal and social relationships [24], teams [25], etc.-scholars define it differently, resulting in its definition not being uniform, and to solve this problem, studies have been developed to classify it into different dimensions to carry out research according to relevant needs. Based on the conceptualization of social capital, Tsai and Ghoshal classified it into three dimensions: structural, relational, and cognitive [53].…”

“…Based on different perspectives, the concept of social capital has been summarized into three significant connotations: association, resource, and network. Scholars holding the association perspective define social capital as the relationship between an individual or group and society and the ability to use this association to obtain resources [24,25]. The resource perspective views social capital as resources embedded in social networks, which individuals or groups acquire and use through their actions [26,27].…”