Seemantini Pathak

• Chiu, S-C. S.; Pathak, S.; Hoskisson, R. E.; Johnson, R. A., 2022, "Managerial commitment to the status quo and corporate divestiture: Can power motivate openness to change?", The Leadership Quarterly, June 33(3): 101459 - 101459.
  Abstract: CEOs' commitment to the status quo (CSQ) is a prominent psychological factor leading to their resistance to organizational change. In this study we focus on the moderating role of managerial power, a central element in strategic choice, in the relationship between CEOs' CSQ and corporate divestiture activity. Drawing from the resource dependence perspective of power, we identify multiple aspects of power (structural, ownership, prestige/social, and expert power) that reduce CEOs' resistance to corporate change arising from CSQ. This study contributes to the strategic leadership and organizational change literatures by underscoring the importance of considering how different power bases shape the decision making of top managers who may have tendencies to hold onto firm assets when the situation warrants change. With a better understanding of how various power bases may uniquely influence strategic outcomes in the presence of managerial psychological bias, we can more accurately assess the impact of power on firms' strategic actions.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2020.101459

• Salaiz, A. H.; Evans, K.; Jones, C. D.; Pathak, S., 2022, "CEO-COB prestige distance and change in diversification: Exploring a curvilinear relationship", Leadership Quarterly, June 33(3)
  Abstract: This study investigates how the prestige distance between a new chief executive officer (CEO) and the chairperson of the board (COB) can influence changes in the firm’s level of diversification. We draw on social comparison theory and activity theory to argue that the prestige distance between a CEO and COB alters the interaction and communication between the two leaders, and accordingly influences the firm’s ability to change its diversification posture. We test our hypotheses on a dataset of 135 firms and find that the prestige distance in CEO-COB dyads has a U-shaped relationship with the change in the firm’s level of diversification. Our results reveal that low CEO-COB prestige distance, and to a lesser extent high CEO-COB prestige distance, creates conditions for greater changes in the firm’s level of diversification. Further, we find that this U-shaped relationship is more pronounced when the CEO-COB dyad has greater age differences and flattens when the dyad shares age similarity.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1048984321000497

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2021.101544

• Pathak, S.; Sabz, A., 2022, "The impact of advisor status on corporate divestitures and market reactions", Journal of Business Research, May 144: 107 - 121.
  Abstract: Drawing from the resource-based theory, this study examines the circumstances under which financial advisors’ market status may impact divesting firms’ transaction performance (market reaction) and strategic activity (divestiture scale). We argue that divesting firms’ product diversification and performance severity interact with advisor status during critical corporate change. Based on a sample of U.S. divesting firms, we found that highly diversified firms carried out more divestiture activities when using a higher-status advisor.We also found that divesting firms with financial difficulty had more divestiture activities and had better market performance when using a higher-status advisor. This research sheds important light on the contingencies impacting the dual (strategic and financial) role of financial advisors’ market status in firms undertaking critical corporate changes through asset divestiture.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296322000856

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.01.073

• Pathak, S.; Samba, C.; Li, M., 2021, "Audit committee diversity and financial restatements", Journal of Management and Governance, September 25(3): 899 - 931.
  Abstract: Prior research has found that characteristics of the audit committee influence the incidence of financial restatements, as does demographic diversity on boards of directors. We draw upon work team diversity research to examine the impact of relations-oriented and task-oriented diversity in the audit committee on the likelihood of fraud-related and error-related financial restatements, respectively. We argue that these two types of demographic diversity work differently through greater vigilance of the audit committee in reducing the occurrence of financial restatements. Using a matched sample of fraud-restatement, error-restatement and non-restatement U.S. firms between 1996 and 2010, we find that relations-oriented diversity is associated with a lower incidence of fraud-related restatements, while task-oriented diversity is associated with a lower likelihood of error-related restatements. We also find that the involvement of audit committee members on other board committees moderates these relationships. We discuss the important role of work team diversity mechanisms in evaluating the effectiveness of board audit committees.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://doi.org/10.1007/s10997-020-09548-4

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10997-020-09548-4

• Uzuegbunam, I.; Pathak, S.; Taylor-Bianco, A.; Ofem, B., (Forthcoming), "How cultural tightness interacts with gender in founding teams: Insights from the commercialization of social ventures", Journal of Business Venturing, July 36(4): 106127 - 106127.
  Abstract: Though discussion of culture is central in the literature on gender in entrepreneurial settings, prior studies have paid scant attention to the specific impact of cultural norms. We propose that the impact of gender composition in new venture teams (NVTs) on commercialization of social ventures is contingent on the strength of cultural norms of a nation. Our view of gender as a culture-contingent resource reveals ordering mechanisms that distinguish gender effects in culturally tight versus culturally loose societies with respect to commercialization intent and legal form. The empirical analysis of an international sample of 6657 social ventures from 30 countries supports the study hypotheses. The findings show that gender differences in new ventures are more significant in tight societies compared to loose societies.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883902621000379

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2021.106127

• Evans, K.; Salaiz, A.; Pathak, S.; Vera, D., 2020, "Community Influential Directors and Corporate Social Performance", Business & Society, October 61(1): 225 - 263.
  Abstract: We draw upon the attention-based view of the firm to identify the conditions under which community influentials (CIs) on a board impact a firm?s corporate social performance (CSP). We test our hypotheses with a panel data set of Fortune 500 firms from 2004 to 2008, including 3,955 unique firm?director combinations (aggregated to the board level). Although CIs are often considered less powerful directors, we identify that when the firm is experiencing poor CSP, CIs have a positive effect on CSP. The ability of CIs to influence CSP is also conditional on the access of CIs and other board members to socially oriented board ties. Our article points out that power and influence is contingent on the decision context and the relative knowledge of organizational players, and that players with relatively lower power may improve their status and command attention when they can offer exclusive insight into important issues.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650320965154

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0007650320965154

• Salaiz, A.; Evans, K.; Pathak, S.; Vera, D. V., 2020, "The impact of corporate social responsibility and irresponsibility on firm performance: New insights to an old question", Organizational Dynamics, April 49(2): 100698 - 100698.
  Abstract: This article seeks to challenge and advance current corporate social performance (CSP) research, which tends to follow one of two patterns: (1) researchers focus on only one side of the story (e.g. corporate social responsibility) while ignoring that the other exists (e.g. corporate social irresponsibility) or (2) researchers treat corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR) as opposites along a continuum, such that a firm is either good or bad, but not both. Neither of these approaches sufficiently addresses CSP’s multifaceted nature. Research, such as that of professors James Mattingly and Shawn Berman, shows that CSR and CSIR are not opposites along a continuum. Firms do not exist in a vacuum of carrying out only socially good or only socially bad actions. A firm can be both socially-responsible and irresponsible at the same time.

  Link(s) to publication:

  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0090261618302511

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.orgdyn.2019.01.004

• Pathak, S., 2020, "Firm-advisor ties and financial performance in the context of corporate divestiture", Journal of business research, January 121: 315 - 328.
  Abstract: The important role financial advisors play in corporate divestiture is widely recognized. However, their influence on firm performance is underexplored. Our study examines three aspects (the number, task relevance, and exclusivity) of firm-advisor ties in explaining firms’ post-divestiture performance. We find that more prior firm-advisor ties and higher task relevance in those ties improve post-divestiture performance (ROA as well as market measures). These positive effects are amplified in divesting firms facing financial decline as compared to firms that are maintaining their historical accounting performance. We find that the exclusivity of firm-advisor ties can be a double-edged sword, revealed by its nonmonotonic effect on post-divestiture performance. This study demonstrates that divesting firms may benefit from hiring familiar advisors when prior ties with the focal advisor are contextually relevant, but not necessarily exclusive. Firms’ pre-restructuring financial conditions can strengthen those relationships.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.09.027

• Pathak, S., 2018, "Encouraging Development of a Global Mindset among Students in Online International Management Courses", Journal of teaching in international business, January 29(1): 20 - 48.
  Abstract: This research explores how a multiple intelligences approach can be used to build a global mindset among students in online international management courses. It draws upon research in the areas of global mindset, education, cognition and learning, and neuroscience to discuss how pedagogical tools and strategies relevant to each specific intelligence can contribute to cognitive complexity and cosmopolitanism. Suggestions are offered for online teaching methods that can incorporate the multiple intelligences in international management courses.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08975930.2018.1455920

• Shi, W.; Pathak, S.; Song, L. J.; Hoskisson, R. E., 2018, "The adoption of chief diversity officers among S&P 500 firms: Institutional, resource dependence, and upper echelons accounts", Human resource management, January 57(1): 83 - 96.
  Abstract: The importance of workforce diversity has become a salient management concern given that demographic minorities comprise key sources of the workforce and consumers. As a result, some firms created chief diversity officer (CDO) positions to manage workforce diversity. This study takes a multitheoretic approach, drawing upon institutional, resource dependence, and upper echelons theories to explain firms' adoptions of this key position. Using Cox event history analyses based on a sample of S&P 500 firms, we find that, from an institutional theory perspective, firms are more likely to adopt CDOs when they are headquartered in legalized gay marriage states and the accumulative number of industry CDO adoptions is high. From a resource dependence perspective, we find that firm innovation intensity, diversification levels, transient institutional ownership, and industry female and African American employment bases can predict firms' adoptions of CDO positions. From an upper echelons explanation, we find that female top management team representation is positively associated with firms' adoptions of CDO positions.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hrm.21837

• Chiu, S.; Johnson, R. A.; Hoskisson, R. E.; Pathak, S., 2016, "The impact of CEO successor origin on corporate divestiture scale and scope change", The Leadership quarterly, January 27(4): 617 - 633.
  Abstract: The effect of CEO successor origin on strategic change in organizations has been inconclusive. While the conventional view suggests that more changes are likely to occur in firms led by new outside CEOs, recent evidence shows that outside successors often face challenges in affecting changes due to their lack of firm-specific knowledge. Our paper examines how CEO successor origin leads to variations in firms' strategic orientations during portfolio restructuring. Through investigating two dimensions of strategic change in restructuring, we demonstrate that new inside CEOs are associated with a greater scale of divestiture, whereas new outside CEOs are associated with a greater scope change through divestiture. Our results, based on 234 divestiture programs in the United States between 1986 and 2009 demonstrate that both new inside and outside CEOs can affect the changes in restructuring firms, albeit in different ways, depending on the scale and scope change following a divestiture program.

  Link(s) to publication:

  http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2016.01.007

• Banks, M. A.; Vera, D.; Pathak, S.; Ballard, K., 2016, "Stakeholder management as a source of competitive advantage", Organizational dynamics, January 45(1): 18 - 27.

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