TY - JOUR
T1 - Supporting innovation in government-sponsored networks
T2 - The role of network board composition
AU - Wincent, Joakim
AU - Anokhin, Sergey
AU - Örtqvist, Daniel
PY - 2013/12/1
Y1 - 2013/12/1
N2 - With growing public and private support of networks of small and medium-sized firms, many networks rely on network boards to ensure effective governance. By integrating agency and embeddedness reasoning, this article argues that network board composition aimed at effective monitoring may be at the cost of lost ability to strategize. In this study, longitudinal data of Swedish government-supported innovation networks demonstrate that network innovation improves as network board size increases, but that returns to such increases diminish when boards become overly large. Similarly, network board independence is beneficial up to a certain threshold, after which further increases in independence become detrimental. The study clarifies how agency and embeddedness theory can be combined to explain boards' abilities to combine monitoring and strategizing at the network level in increasing the levels of network innovation.
AB - With growing public and private support of networks of small and medium-sized firms, many networks rely on network boards to ensure effective governance. By integrating agency and embeddedness reasoning, this article argues that network board composition aimed at effective monitoring may be at the cost of lost ability to strategize. In this study, longitudinal data of Swedish government-supported innovation networks demonstrate that network innovation improves as network board size increases, but that returns to such increases diminish when boards become overly large. Similarly, network board independence is beneficial up to a certain threshold, after which further increases in independence become detrimental. The study clarifies how agency and embeddedness theory can be combined to explain boards' abilities to combine monitoring and strategizing at the network level in increasing the levels of network innovation.
KW - agency theory
KW - embeddedness theory
KW - monitoring
KW - network board
KW - strategic network
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84890381253&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1177/0266242612447970
DO - 10.1177/0266242612447970
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84890381253
VL - 31
SP - 997
EP - 1020
JO - International Small Business Journal
JF - International Small Business Journal
SN - 0266-2426
IS - 8
ER -