The Resource Dependence Role of Corporate Directors: Strategic Adaptation of Board Composition in Response to Environmental Change
提出专门研究董事资源依赖角色的分类法，并以美国航空业放松管制为背景，发现企业会通过调整董事会构成来应对外部环境变化。
Most research on corporate directors has focused on two roles: agency and resource dependence. While these two roles are theoretically and practically distinct, previous research has used the same classification scheme for measuring board composition regardless of role examined. Our paper examines the resource dependence role of directors and posits that the widely used insider/outsider categorizations do not adequately capture this role of directors. A taxonomy of directors is presented specifically for studying the resource dependence role. We then apply the taxonomy to a sample of US airline firms undergoing deregulation, and examine how board composition changes parallel the changing resource dependence needs of the firms. We conclude that the board’s function as a link to the external environment is an important one, and that firms respond to significant changes in their external environment by altering board composition.