TY - CHAP
T1 - Board Members’ Religious Affiliations and Corporate Governance Practice
T2 - An Exploratory Study
AU - Goyal, Rita
AU - Kakabadse, Nada
AU - Kakabadse, Andrew
N1 - Copyright © and Moral Rights are retained by the author(s) and/ or other copyright owners. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. This item cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the copyright holder(s). The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.
PY - 2021/6/25
Y1 - 2021/6/25
N2 - The deleterious effects of a black-swan event, COVID-19, on companies and their governance are likely to be wide-ranging and unprecedented. To survive a potentially existential crisis that organizations are currently facing and remain sustainable, they may have to look beyond the standard governance models, leadership styles and leaders’ attributes. So far, the usual suspects of effective corporate governance have been the sound principles of management and law. The impact of corporate elites’ religious background on their decision making is seldom explored in the existing literature. However, the Upper Echelon perspective suggests that when faced with uncertain and complex situations, corporate elites turn to their background and experiences. This is done in order to interpret available information and make decisions. This chapter explores if corporate elites’ religious background influences their decision. We conduct the inquiry by interviewing 42 board members of listed companies in the UK. The study's findings suggest that corporate elites' religious beliefs shape their value-sets, decisions, and organizations’ strategic aspirations. The findings are explained with the help of interdisciplinary literature. The study’s contribution to theory, literature, and praxis is also discussed.
AB - The deleterious effects of a black-swan event, COVID-19, on companies and their governance are likely to be wide-ranging and unprecedented. To survive a potentially existential crisis that organizations are currently facing and remain sustainable, they may have to look beyond the standard governance models, leadership styles and leaders’ attributes. So far, the usual suspects of effective corporate governance have been the sound principles of management and law. The impact of corporate elites’ religious background on their decision making is seldom explored in the existing literature. However, the Upper Echelon perspective suggests that when faced with uncertain and complex situations, corporate elites turn to their background and experiences. This is done in order to interpret available information and make decisions. This chapter explores if corporate elites’ religious background influences their decision. We conduct the inquiry by interviewing 42 board members of listed companies in the UK. The study's findings suggest that corporate elites' religious beliefs shape their value-sets, decisions, and organizations’ strategic aspirations. The findings are explained with the help of interdisciplinary literature. The study’s contribution to theory, literature, and praxis is also discussed.
KW - Upper Echelon theory; Religious affiliation of board members; Values of board members; Board diversity; Corporate governance
KW - Board diversity
KW - Corporate governance
KW - Values of board members
KW - Religious affiliation of board members
KW - Upper Echelon theory
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85109571463&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-73847-1_9
DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-73847-1_9
M3 - Chapter
SN - 9783030738464
T3 - Palgrave Studies in Governance, Leadership and Responsibility
SP - 185
EP - 211
BT - Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability during the Coronavirus Crisis
A2 - Sörensson, A
A2 - Tesfaye, B
A2 - Lundström, A
A2 - Grigore, G
A2 - Stancu, A
PB - Palgrave
ER -