Content, structure, and performance implications of board interlocks: The role of institutional contingencies

My dissertation examines antecedents and consequences of board interlocks. The focus of my analysis is on the moderating effects of institutional factors. By bringing the institutional perspective into the analysis of intercorporate ties I explain some of the inconsistent results of prior studies by showing how, under different institutional conditions, similar intercorporate ties are used differently and have different performance implications.; My dissertation consists of three separate but related studies. In all three studies I use data on board interlocks that I have collected for a large sample of banks and industrial companies in Russia. For cross-national comparisons I use data reported in prior studies of board interlocks in other countries. My first two studies are about institutional factors that affect how organizations use interlocks in response to resource dependencies. In the first study about inter-industry and intra-industry interlocks I analyze institutional factors that determine whether resource dependence is associated with uncertainty and whether board interlocks are used to alleviate this uncertainty. In the second study I develop and test hypotheses about the association between banks' dependence on different sources of financial capital and their positions in the network of board interlocks. The third study is focused on performance implications of ties with different parts of the state and I analyze profitability and growth of banks with representatives of different state organizations on their boards. Together these studies demonstrate that the tendency to use interlocks under conditions of resource dependence as well as performance implications of interlocks are contingent on the institutional context.