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.

Commitment on the Board: A Model of Volunteer Directors' Levels of Organizational Commitment and Self-Reported Performance

Abstract: Previous research has established a link between the composition and performance of boards of directors and organizational performance in both for-profit and not-for-profit contexts (Dowen, 1995; Green and Griesinger, 1996; Jackson and Holland, 1998; Zahra and Pearce, 1989). Boards play an important role in governance, strategy, and management selection that has a presumed impact on the overall performance of the organization (Dalton et al., 1999; Jackson and Holland, 1998; Green and Griesinger, 1996). Studies of board performance have focused mostly on board composition (Coles and Hesterly, 2000; Daily and Dalton, 1993; Dalton et al., 1999) and board practices (Gabreilsson and Winlund, 2000; Herman and Renz, 2000; Westphal, 1999). Although each of these is important in explaining board effectiveness, they do not take into account individual director roles. For example, Johnson et al. (1996) argued that directors should be chosen and therefore serve in one or more of the following roles--control (e.g., governance), service (e.g., advice and counsel), and resource dependence (e.g., access to critical resources). Assuming that each director is diligent in fulfilling one or more of the above responsibilities, the performance of the board as a whole is ultimately dependent on the performance of individual board members. The purpose of this article is to propose and test a model that examines the relationships between an individual's experience and role on a board of directors, the director's level of commitment to the board, and the director's self-reported performance. The following sections offer a review of the organizational commitment literature, and hypotheses regarding the antecedents of organizational commitment and director's self-perception of performance. The hypotheses are empirically tested and the results are reported. This study concludes with a discussion of our findings. ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT Organizational commitment has been given considerable attention in management research over the past twenty-five years and has also been a popular concept with practitioners. It has formed the basis of the widely-held assumption that higher levels of commitment among employees lead to improved work performance and a wide range of other positive organizational outcomes, such as reduced absenteeism and turnover (Riketta, 2002). In fact, Meyer, Stanley, Herscovitch, and Topolnytsky's meta-analysis (2002) identified 70 published articles, dissertations, and other empirical research dealing with the concept of organizational commitment from 1985 to 2000. This high volume of publication and interest in the topic underscores the continued relevancy of organizational commitment to the fields of management research and practice. Commitment has been conceptualized in terms of behavioral patterns, intentions, motivations, or attitudes (Goulet and Frank, 2002). The attitudinal approach, which has been the most widely used, describes commitment as "the relative strength of an individual's identification with and involvement in a particular organization" (Mowday et al., 1979: 231). In meta-analyses of the concept, researchers continue to find significant correlations between attitudinal commitment and numerous organizational outcomes, including job performance (Mathieu and Zajac, 1990; Meyer et al., 2002; Riketta, 2002). The preponderance of the organizational commitment research examines the commitment of traditional, paid employees to their employer (Meyer el al., 2002). Volunteers are fundamentally different from employees in that the behavior of volunteers is less likely to be subject to coercive power than is the behavior of employees because volunteers are less dependent on organizational rewards (Pearce, 1993). This creates conditions of normative uncertainty--a situation where social expectations and organizational values are less certain and more fluid for the volunteer than they would be for the paid employee. …

Overcoming the liability of outsidership for emerging market MNEs: A capability-building perspective

Abstract: This paper develops and discusses a model describing how multinational enterprises from emerging economies (EMNEs) overcome the liability of outsidership in their internationalization from a capability-building perspective. Our aim is to celebrate the important intellectual contribution of Johanson and Vahlne (J Int Bus Stud 40(9):1411–1431, 2009), who introduced the liability of outsidership concept. We first discuss learning from the local environment that can reduce outsidership, and then explain how greater absorptive capacity can translate into better performance internationally. Finally, we elaborate on how the institutional environment further conditions the process and the outcomes of learning. We conclude with some suggestions for future research from five theoretical perspectives: learning, social network theory, institutional theory, resource dependence theory, and MNE structure and design.

An introductory review of the resource theory approach to thermodynamics.

Abstract: I give a self-contained introduction to the resource theory approach to quantum thermodynamics. I will introduce in an elementary manner the technical machinery necessary to unpack and prove the core statements of the theory. The topics covered include the so-called `many second laws of thermodynamics', thermo-majorisation and symmetry constraints on the evolution of quantum coherence. Among the elementary applications, I explicitly work out the bounds on deterministic work extraction and formation, discuss the complete solution of the theory for a single qubit and present the irreversibility of coherence transfers. The aim is to facilitate the task of those researchers interested in engaging and contributing to this topic, presenting scope and motivation of its core assumptions and discussing the relation between the resource theory and complementary approaches.

Nonprofit Advocacy and Civic Engagement on the Internet

Abstract: This study extends prior work on the social role of nonprofits by investigat ing Web site use for e-advocacy and e-democracy (civic engagement). Building from interviews with 200 nonprofit executive directors, results reveal that rights groups, environmental organizations, and policy entrepre neurs are consistently likely to mention advocacy and promote civic engage ment on their Web sites. By contrast, funding structure and resource dependence generally fail to explain nonprofit use of Web sites for social purposes, suggesting that external controls may not constrain nonprofits. In light of these results, the study concludes with an agenda for future research on the relationship between civic engagement and advocacy.