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Lex Donaldson

Bio: Lex Donaldson is an academic researcher from University of New South Wales. The author has contributed to research in topics: Contingency theory & Organizational theory. The author has an hindex of 35, co-authored 90 publications receiving 16058 citations.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article proposed a model based upon the subordinate's psychological attributes and the organization's situational characteristics to reconcile the differences between these assumptions by proposing a model that reconciles the differences among these assumptions.
Abstract: Recent thinking about top management has been influenced by alternative models of man.1 Economic approaches to governance such as agency theory tend to assume some form of homo-economicus, which depict subordinates as individualistic, opportunistic, and self-serving. Alternatively, sociological and psychological approaches to governance such as stewardship theory depict subordinates as collectivists, pro-organizational, and trustworthy. Through this research, we attempt to reconcile the differences between these assumptions by proposing a model based upon the subordinate's psychological attributes and the organization's situational characteristics.

4,288 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, an empirical test fails to support agency theory and provides some support for stewardship theory, which argues that shareholders interests require protection by separation of incumbency of roles of board chair and CEO.
Abstract: Agency theory argues that shareholder interests require protection by separation of incumbency of roles of board chair and CEO. Stewardship theory argues shareholder interests are maximised by shared incumbency of these roles. Results of an empirical test fail to support agency theory and provide some support for stewardship theory.

2,957 citations

Book
20 Feb 2001
TL;DR: Theoretical integration of organic theory and research in Bureaucracy Theory and Research Causality and Contingency as mentioned in this paper Controversies inContingency Theory Research Challenges from Other Theories Fit Concept and Analysis Fit Affects Performance Neo-Contingencies Theory Future Opportunities
Abstract: Core Paradigm and Theoretical Integration Organic Theory and Research Bureaucracy Theory and Research Causality and Contingency in Bureaucracy Theory Controversies in Contingency Theory Research Challenges from Other Theories Fit Concept and Analysis Fit Affects Performance Neo-Contingency Theory Future Opportunities

1,998 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The potentialities and pitfalls of organizational economics are illustrated by reference to matrix organization structures, vertical disintegration in insurance organizations, and corporate governance as mentioned in this paper, and the potential to make a constructive contribution to management theory.
Abstract: Organizational economics, as a newer theory, has the potential to make a constructive contribution to management theory. Nevertheless, there are several inherent problems regarding its narrow model of human motivation and behavior, its negative moral characterization of managers, and its methodological individualist bias. One solution is to embrace the positive approach of the original economic formulations. The potentialities and pitfalls of organizational economics are illustrated by reference to matrix organization structures, vertical disintegration in insurance organizations, and corporate governance.

1,022 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Relationship marketing, established, developing, and maintaining successful relational exchanges, constitutes a major shift in marketing theory and practice as mentioned in this paper, after conceptualizing relationship relationships as a set of relationships.
Abstract: Relationship marketing—establishing, developing, and maintaining successful relational exchanges—constitutes a major shift in marketing theory and practice. After conceptualizing relationship marke...

19,920 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a definition of trust and a model of its antecedents and outcomes are presented, which integrate research from multiple disciplines and differentiate trust from similar constructs, and several research propositions based on the model are presented.
Abstract: Scholars in various disciplines have considered the causes, nature, and effects of trust. Prior approaches to studying trust are considered, including characteristics of the trustor, the trustee, and the role of risk. A definition of trust and a model of its antecedents and outcomes are presented, which integrate research from multiple disciplines and differentiate trust from similar constructs. Several research propositions based on the model are presented.

16,559 citations

Book
01 Jan 1995
TL;DR: In this article, Nonaka and Takeuchi argue that Japanese firms are successful precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies, and they reveal how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge.
Abstract: How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.

7,448 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article conducted a meta-analysis of 52 studies and found that corporate virtue in the form of social responsibility and, to a lesser extent, environmental responsibility is likely to pay off, although the operationalizations of CSP and CFP also moderate the positive association.
Abstract: Most theorizing on the relationship between corporate social/environmental performance (CSP) and corporate financial performance (CFP) assumes that the current evidence is too fractured or too variable to draw any generalizable conclusions. With this integrative, quantitative study, we intend to show that the mainstream claim that we have little generalizable knowledge about CSP and CFP is built on shaky grounds. Providing a methodologically more rigorous review than previous efforts, we conduct a meta-analysis of 52 studies (which represent the population of prior quantitative inquiry) yielding a total sample size of 33,878 observations. The meta-analytic findings suggest that corporate virtue in the form of social responsibility and, to a lesser extent, environmental responsibility is likely to pay off, although the operationalizations of CSP and CFP also moderate the positive association. For example, CSP appears to be more highly correlated with accounting-based measures of CFP than with market-based ...

6,493 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors investigated the relation between founding-family ownership and firm performance and found that family ownership is both prevalent and substantial; families are present in one-third of the S&P 500 and account for 18 percent of outstanding equity.
Abstract: We investigate the relation between founding-family ownership and firm performance. We find that family ownership is both prevalent and substantial; families are present in one-third of the S&P 500 and account for 18 percent of outstanding equity. Contrary to our conjecture, we find family firms perform better than nonfamily firms. Additional analysis reveals that the relation between family holdings and firm performance is nonlinear and that when family members serve as CEO, performance is better than with outside CEOs. Overall, our results are inconsistent with the hypothesis that minority shareholders are adversely affected by family ownership, suggesting that family ownership is an effective organizational structure. FOUNDING-FAMILYOWNERSHIPAND CONTROL in public U.S. firms is commonly perceived as a less efficient, or at the very least, a less profitable ownership structure than dispersed ownership. Fama and Jensen (1983) note that combining ownership and control allows concentrated shareholders to exchange profits for private rents. Demsetz (1983) argues that such owners may choose nonpecuniary consumption and thereby draw scarce resources away from profitable projects. Shleifer and Vishny (1997) observe that the large premiums associated with superiorvoting shares or control rights provide evidence that controlling shareholders seek to extract private benefits from the firm. More generally, firms with large, undiversified owners such as founding families may forgo maximum profits because they are unable to separate their financial preferences with those of outside owners.1 Families also often limit executive management positions to family

4,923 citations