Resource dependence theory

About: Resource dependence theory is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2732 publications have been published within this topic receiving 184871 citations.

Exploring the association between board and organizational performance in nonprofit organizations

Abstract: Note: This study investigated six dimensions of effective board performance, as suggested by Chait, Holland, and Taylor (1991), in relation to three theoretical explanations (agency theory, resource dependency theory, and group/decision process theory) of how board governance activities potentially influence organizational performance. Survey research findings revealed that strategic contributions from the board are more robust in organizations with higher financial performance. In addition, organizations that are judged to be higher performing also reported having high-performing boards across all dimensions. In particular, the interpersonal dimension provided a unique explanation of judgments of organizational performance.

Decisions to Outsource Information Systems Functions: Testing a Strategy‐Theoretic Discrepancy Model

Abstract: In recent years, the decision to outsource information systems (IS) functions has become a viable strategic alternative in managing the increasingly complex IS functions. In this study, the IS outsourcing phenomenon is conceptualized as a strategic decision in the organization. Drawing on resource-based theories, resource dependence theories, and other theories of strategic management, a discrepancy model of this decision is developed. Relationships between a number of strategy-theoretic factors and the IS outsourcing decision are hypothesized. These factors include IS resource performance discrepancies manifested in the form of gaps in information quality, IS support quality, IS cost effectiveness and financial performance, as well as the strategic orientation of the firm. Results of the study indicate that, while cost consideration and the firm's financial performance are not associated with the IS outsourcing decision, difficulties in providing good information outputs and IS support services are associated with the decision. Overall, the findings suggest that the current trend toward outsourcing represents a continuing evolution of the IS function as it attempts to fulfill its traditional mission of providing high quality information resource to the firm. When the performance of the delivered resource begins to slip in the current environment of rising expectation and technological complexity, outsourcing may become a strategic response of necessity. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the results for practicing managers and suggestions for future research.

Great Minds in Management: The Process of Theory Development

Abstract: INTRODUCTION 1. The Process of Developing Mangement Theory PART I: INDIVIDUALS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT 2. The Evolution of Social Cognitive Theory 3. Image Theory 4. The Road to Fairness and Beyond 5. Proactive Individualism 6. Upper Echelons Theory: Origins, Twists and Turns, and Lessons Learned 7. Goal Setting Theory: Theory Building by Induction 8. How Job Characteristics Theory Happened 9. Do Employee Attitudes Towards Organizations Matter? The Study of Employee Commitment to Organizations 10. Developing Psychological Contract Theory 11. The Escalation of Commitment: Steps Toward an Organizational Theory 12. On the Origins of Expectancy Theory PART II: BEHAVIOR OF ORGANIZATIONS 13. Double-Loop Learning in Organizations: A Theory of Action Perspective 14. Where Does Inequality Come From? The Personal and Intellectual Roots of Resource-Based Theory 15. Organizational Effectiveness: Its Demise and Re-Emergence Through Positive Organizational Scholarship 16. Managerial and Organizational Cognition: Islands of Coherence 17. Develping Theory About the Development of Theory 18. Managing Organizational Knowledge: Theoretical and Methodological Foundations 19. The Experience of Theorizing: Sensemaking as Topic and Resource PART III: ENVIRONMENTAL CONTINGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS 20. The Development of Stakeholder Theory: An Idiosyncratic Approach 21. Developing Resouce Dependence Theory: How Theory is Affected by its Environment 22. Institutional Theroy: Contributing to a Theoretical Research Program 23. Transaction Cost Economics: The Process of Theory Development 24. Developing Evolutionary Theory for Economics and Management 25. An Evolutionary Approach to Institutions and Social Construction: Process and Structure CONCLUSION 26. Learning How to Develop Theory from the Masters

Toward a More Coherent Understanding of the Organization–Society Relationship: A Theoretical Consideration for Social and Environmental Accounting Research

Abstract: In this study we analyze the overlapping perspectives of legitimacy theory, institutional theory, resource dependence theory, and stakeholder theory. Our purpose is to explore how these theories can inform and be built upon by one another. Through our analysis we provide a broader theoretical understanding of these theories that may support and promote social and environmental accounting research. This article starts with a detailed analysis of legitimacy theory by bringing some recent critical discussions on legitimacy and corporations in the management literature into accounting research. The notion forwarded by legitimacy theory then serves as an overarching concept to examine the relationship between and among theories. We conclude that two theoretical considerations are important for future social and environmental accounting research. First, it must be acknowledged that some business entities initiate social activities based on direct interactions with stakeholders, whereas others may also undertake similar activities to manage their societal level of legitimacy. Second, from analyzing the perspectives of legitimacy theory, institutional theory, resource dependence theory, and stakeholder theory, it is possible to reach compatible interpretations of business social phenomena, and the selection and application of these theories should depend upon the focus of study.

Chapter 2 Resource dependence theory: Past and future

Abstract: This chapter reviews the origins and primary arguments of resource dependence theory and traces its influence on the subsequent literatures in multiple social science and professional disciplines, contrasting it with Emerson's power-dependence theory. Recent years have seen an upsurge in the theory's citations in the literature, which we attribute in part to Stanford's position of power in the network of academic exchange. We conclude with a review of some promising lines of recent research that extend and qualify resource dependence theory's insights, and outline potentially fruitful areas of future research.