Recategorization into the In-group
研究提出重新归类视角，解释为何人口特征不同的董事能成功获得重要董事会职位，发现现有董事倾向于选择在共享特征上相似的异质董事，且这一过程受社会关系强化，但可能导致多样性在特征间此消彼长。
This study advances a recategorization perspective to explain how an increasing number of directors have successfully obtained major board appointments and played important roles on boards despite their demographic differences from incumbent directors. We theorize and show that existing directors tend to select a demographically different new director who can be recategorized as an in-group member based on his or her similarities to them on other shared demographic characteristics. We further explain how a new director’s prior social ties to existing directors strengthen this recategorization process and posit that recategorization increases demographically different directors’ tenures and likelihood of becoming board committee members and chairs. Results from analyses of Fortune 500 boards from 1994 to 2006 provide strong support for our theory. This study suggests that increased board diversity on some demographic characteristics is associated with reduced diversity on others. It also suggests that some demographic characteristics, such as gender and ethnicity, would be more salient during the recategorization process than other characteristics. As a result, female and ethnic minority directors would need to be more similar to incumbents along shared dimensions than other demographically different directors (such as a young director) for them to be recategorized into the in-group.