THE TECHNOSTRUCTURE GAP THE EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS OF EXECUTIVE AND NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS

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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the educational qualifications and experience of executive and non-executive members of directorial boards in Australia. Inspired by Galbraith’s (1967) analysis of the ‘technostructure’, we examine the educational qualifications of managerial (executive) directors and non-executive directors to assess the extent of divergences in the relevance (to the company’s operations) of executives’ and non-executives’ educational qualifications. In addition, we measure the ‘relatedness’ of executives’ and non-executives’ educational qualifications to determine the extent to which the set of educational qualifications of executive directors diverges from that of non-executive directors. We find significant differences in the relevance of the educational qualifications possessed by executives and non-executives. We also find very low relatedness between the two sets of educational qualifications. The advantages of board diversity on the one hand and the disadvantages that may attend potentially sub-optimal technical information flow on the other are discussed.

Keywords: Technostructure, CEO, Board of Directors, Education, Qualifications

How to cite this paper: Phillips, P. J., Cotter, J. (2010). The technostructure gap the educational qualifications of executive and non-executive directors. Corporate Ownership & Control, 7(4), 102-113. https://doi.org/10.22495/cocv7i4p7