Building resilience in a crisis through boards – exploring the mediating effect of board behavior

Zhang, P., Wang, D., Kakabadse, N. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9517-8279 and Huning, T. (2025) Building resilience in a crisis through boards – exploring the mediating effect of board behavior. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 33 (1). e70027. ISSN 1468-5973 doi: 10.1111/1468-5973.70027

Abstract/Summary

The present study examines two board behaviors, their antecedents, and their consequences in the COVID-19 crisis. The two behaviors are 1) board involvement in crisis management planning and 2) board creative effort in finding solutions. The antecedents are board expertise and cognitive diversity. The consequence is firm resilience. The study builds its theoretical argument using the classical and refined upper echelons theory, stating that the two board behaviors mediate the effect of board expertise and cognitive diversity on firm resilience. Survey data from the U.S. during early 2020 was used. We found strong support for our overall argument that board involvement in crisis management planning and board creative effort in finding solutions are critical mediators. Our study also shows that the context of a crisis matters. During COVID-19, board cognitive diversity can negatively affect board behavior. We conclude the paper with discussions and future research proposals.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/120614
Identification Number/DOI	10.1111/1468-5973.70027
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Henley Business School > Leadership, Organisations, Behaviour and Reputation
Publisher	Wiley
Download/View statistics	View download statistics for this item