"Board Directors and Firm Reputation: The Effect of Who They Are, What They Know, and Who They Know"

We use arguments based on upper echelons and signaling research to derive hypotheses about how the board’s human capital, social capital, and demographic diversity impact firm reputation. Our results show that the board’s social connections enhance the benefits to the firm’s reputation of having strong board human capital. We also detected a tradeoff in the case of diversity, with board social connections augmenting the impact of board gender diversity but weakening that of board age diversity on organizational reputation. Our results provide a more nuanced picture of how boards of directors serve firms and have important implications for director selection.