IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jmgtgv/v25y2021i1d10.1007_s10997-020-09503-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Opening the ‘black box’: what does observational research reveal about processes and practices of governing?

Author

Listed:
  • Cate Watson

    (University of Stirling)

  • Gary Husband

    (University of Stirling)

  • Aileen Ireland

    (University of Stirling)

Abstract

Despite several decades of research on governance, very little is known about processes and practices of governing and, crucially, the links between governing and organisational performance. This has led to calls to penetrate the ‘black box’ of the boardroom by conducting research which draws on data gathered through direct observation. Such calls, however, have so far produced a rather sparse and inchoate literature which would benefit from review in order to give shape to the field and provide direction for future research. Here, we critically examine the findings of this research, focusing on three emergent themes: (1) the extent to which empirical research supports the established theories in the field, particularly agency and stewardship theories; (2) what research says about ‘good’ and ‘effective’ governance and the relationship between them; and (3) the methodological and conceptual orientations which frame this research, and the claims made for ‘processual’ approaches. We conclude with an agenda for taking the field forward in order to extend knowledge and to contribute to theory around governing.

Suggested Citation

  • Cate Watson & Gary Husband & Aileen Ireland, 2021. "Opening the ‘black box’: what does observational research reveal about processes and practices of governing?," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 25(1), pages 189-221, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jmgtgv:v:25:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s10997-020-09503-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10997-020-09503-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10997-020-09503-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10997-020-09503-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Phil Saj, 2013. "Charity performance reporting: comparing board and executive roles," Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 10(3/4), pages 347-368, November.
    2. Niamh M. Brennan & Collette E. Kirwan & John Redmond, 2016. "Accountability processes in boardrooms," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(1), pages 135-164, January.
    3. Richard Leblanc & Mark S. Schwartz, 2007. "The Black Box of Board Process: gaining access to a difficult subject," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 843-851, September.
    4. Pettigrew, Andrew M., 1997. "What is a processual analysis?," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 337-348, December.
    5. March, James G. & Olsen, Johan P., 1983. "The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 78(3), pages 734-749, December.
    6. Gavin Nicholson & Amedeo Pugliese & Pieter-Jan Bezemer, 2017. "Habitual accountability routines in the boardroom: how boards balance control and collaboration," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(2), pages 222-246, February.
    7. Julia Balogun & Claus Jacobs & Paula Jarzabkowski & Saku Mantere & Eero Vaara, 2014. "Placing Strategy Discourse in Context: Sociomateriality, Sensemaking, and Power," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 175-201, March.
    8. Chris Cornforth, 2004. "The Governance of cooperatives and mutual associations: a paradox perspective," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 75(1), pages 11-32, March.
    9. Humphry Hung, 1998. "A typology of the theories of the roles of governing boards," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(2), pages 101-111, April.
    10. Boris Durisin & Fulvio Puzone, 2009. "Maturation of Corporate Governance Research, 1993 – 2007: An Assessment," KITeS Working Papers 012, KITeS, Centre for Knowledge, Internationalization and Technology Studies, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy, revised May 2009.
    11. Judge, William Q. & Talaulicar, Till, 2017. "Board Involvement in the Strategic Decision Making Process: A Comprehensive Review," Annals of Corporate Governance, now publishers, vol. 2(2), pages 51-169, April.
    12. Eero Vaara & Julia Balogun & Claus Jacob, 2014. "Placing Strategy Discourse in Context : Sociomateriality, Sensemaking, and Power," Post-Print hal-02313123, HAL.
    13. Niamh Brennan & Collette E. Kirwan & John Redmond, 2016. "Accountability Processes in Boardrooms: A Conceptual Model of Manager-Non-Executive Director Information Asymmetry," Open Access publications 10197/7652, Research Repository, University College Dublin.
    14. Dalvir Samra‐Fredericks, 2000. "An Analysis of the Behavioural Dynamics of Corporate Governance – a talk‐based ethnography of a UK manufacturing ‘board‐in‐action’," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(4), pages 311-326, October.
    15. Phil Saj, 2013. "Charity performance reporting: comparing board and executive roles," Qualitative Research in Accounting & Management, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 10(3), pages 347-368, September.
    16. Sir Adrian Cadbury, 2000. "The Corporate Governance Agenda," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(1), pages 7-15, January.
    17. Lee David Parker, 2007. "Internal Governance in the Nonprofit Boardroom: a participant observer study," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(5), pages 923-934, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Brennan, Niamh M., 2021. "Connecting earnings management to the real World:What happens in the black box of the boardroom?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(6).
    2. Cate Watson & Aileen Ireland, 2021. "Boards in action: processes and practices of ‘strategising’ in the Boardroom," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 25(3), pages 933-966, September.
    3. Eero Vaara & Juha-Antti Lamberg, 2016. "Taking historical embeddedness seriously : Three historical approaches to advance strategy process and practice research," Post-Print hal-02276732, HAL.
    4. Linden, Erik, 2021. "Pandemics and environmental shocks: What aviation managers should learn from COVID-19 for long-term planning," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    5. Wenzel, Matthias & Will, Matthias Georg, 2019. "The communicative constitution of academic fields in the digital age: The case of CSR," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 517-533.
    6. Marc Fréchet & Hervé Goy, 2017. "Does strategy formalization foster innovation? Evidence from a French sample of small to medium-sized enterprises," Post-Print hal-01623788, HAL.
    7. Marwa Elnahass & Kamil Omoteso & Aly Salama & Vu Quang Trinh, 2020. "Differential market valuations of board busyness across alternative banking models," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 201-238, July.
    8. Quang Trinh, Vu & Elnahass, Marwa & Duong Cao, Ngan, 2021. "The value relevance of bank cash Holdings: The moderating effect of board busyness," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    9. Maged Albaz & Mohamed Mostafa Ali Albaz, 2019. "Core Perspectives Of Performance Measurement In Npos: In Search Of Accountability And Legitimacy," Economic Archive, D. A. Tsenov Academy of Economics, Svishtov, Bulgaria, issue 3 Year 20, pages 3-16.
    10. Szymon Kaczmarek, 2017. "Rethinking board diversity with the behavioural theory of corporate governance: opportunities and challenges for advances in theorising," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 21(4), pages 879-906, December.
    11. Bingbing Ge & Alfredo De Massis & Josip Kotlar, 2022. "Mining the Past: History Scripting Strategies and Competitive Advantage in a Family Business," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(1), pages 223-251, January.
    12. Elisa Alt & Justin B. Craig, 2016. "Selling Issues with Solutions: Igniting Social Intrapreneurship in for-Profit Organizations," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(5), pages 794-820, July.
    13. Zalata, Alaa Mansour & Abdelfattah, Tarek, 2021. "Non-executive female directors and earnings management using classification shifting," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 301-315.
    14. Elisa Giuliani & Annamaria Tuan & José Calvimontes Cano, 2021. "Creating Shared Value Meets Human Rights: A Sense-Making Perspective in Small-Scale Firms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(3), pages 489-505, October.
    15. Lionel Garreau & Raphaël Maucuer, 2015. "The mise-en-sens tactics of civil society organizations to influence strategy," Post-Print hal-01787991, HAL.
    16. Shameen Prashantham & Mark P. Healey, 2022. "Strategy as Practice Research: Reflections on its Rationale, Approach, and Contributions," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(8), pages 1-17, December.
    17. Imanol Basterretxea & Chris Cornforth & Iñaki Heras-Saizarbitoria, 2022. "Corporate governance as a key aspect in the failure of worker cooperatives," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 43(1), pages 362-387, February.
    18. Genevieve Musca & Linda Rouleau & Caroline Facq-Mellet & Frédérique Sitri & Sarah de Vogüé, 2018. "From boat to bags: The role of material chronotopes in adaptive sensemaking," Post-Print hal-01928127, HAL.
    19. Butler, Nick, 2018. "Fantasies of strategy: Žižek, discourse and enjoyment," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 79-88.
    20. Ashish Arora & Michelle Gittelman & Sarah Kaplan & John Lynch & Will Mitchell & Nicolaj Siggelkow & Philip Gylfe & Henrika Franck & Curtis Lebaron & Saku Mantere, 2016. "Video methods in strategy research: Focusing on embodied cognition," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(1), pages 133-148, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jmgtgv:v:25:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s10997-020-09503-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.