This paper reports on changes which occurred in the characteristics of the boards of directors of Australia's largest 250 corporations between 1959 and 1979. Among other things, it is shown that over this period the average board size increased substantially as did the proportion of interlocking directorates and the mean number of interlocks maintained per firm. Comparisons are provided between the Australian data and previous research conducted in Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allen, M.P. (1974), 'The Structure of Interorganizational Elite Cooptation: Interlocking Corporate Directorates', American Sociological Review, 39, 393-406.
2.
Carroll, W.K., J. Fox and M.D. Ornstein, (1982), 'The Network of Directorate Links Among the Largest Canadian Firms', Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology , 19(1), 44-69.
3.
Dooley, P.C. (1969), The Interlocking Directorate', American Economic Review, 59, 314-323.
4.
Fogelberg, G. and C.R. Laurent, (1973), 'Interlocking Directorates: A Study of Large Companies in New Zealand', Journal of Business Policy, 3(2), 16-21.
5.
Hall, C.B. (1982), 'Interlocking Directorates in Australia; The Significance for Competition Policy', Paper presented at the 11th Conference of Economists, Flinders University of South Australia, August 23-27.
6.
Johnson, P.S. and R. Apps, (1979), 'Interlocking Directorates Among the UK's Largest Companies', The Antitrust Bulletin, 24, 357-369.
7.
Koenig, T. and R. Gogel, (1981), 'Interlocking Directorates as a Social Network' , American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 40, 37-50.
8.
Levine, J.H. (1972), 'The Sphere of Influence', American Sociological Review, 37, 14-27.
9.
Mintz. B. and M. Schwartz, (1981), 'Interlocking Directorates and Interest Group Formation', American Sociological Review, 46, 851-869.
10.
Ornstein, M.D. (1976), The Boards and Executives of the Largest Canadian Corporations: Size, Composition and Interlocks', Canadian Journal of Sociology, 1(4), 411-437.
11.
Pennings, J.M. (1980), Interlocking Directorates: Origins and Consequences of Connections Among Organizations' Boards of Directors, San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.
12.
Pfeffer, J. and G.R. Salancik, (1978), The External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective, New York, Harper and Row.
13.
Rolfe, H.A. (1967), The Controllers: Interlocking Directorates in Large Australian Companies, Melbourne, Cheshire.
14.
Schoorman, F.D., M.H. Bazerman and R.S. Atkin, (1981), 'Interlocking Directorates: A Strategy for Reducing Environmental Uncertainty', Academy of Management Review, 6(2), 243-251.
15.
Sonquist, J. and T. Koenig, (1975), 'Interlocking Directorates in the Top U.S. Corporations: A Graph Theory Approach', Insurgent Sociologist, 5, 196-229.
