A Little Help Here? Board Control, CEO Identification with the Corporate Elite, and Strategic Help Provided to CEOs at Other Firms

This study contributes to the corporate governance literature by demonstrating how greater board of director control of management at a given firm can have unanticipated adverse effects on the leadership of_other_companies. We specifically show that greater board control reduces affected CEOs' willingness to provide various forms of strategic help (e.g., advice on strategic issues) to other CEOs, making it more difficult for other-company CEOs to access assistance on strategic matters that would otherwise enhance their firms' performance. Our theory and results indicate that these effects are mediated by CEOs' reduced social identification with the “corporate elite.”