THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE REVISITED: A CRITICAL REVIEW

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Abstract

In this paper we review some of the initial ideologies regarding corporate governance, focusing in particular on the – in the literature dominating – Principal-Agent-Approach. We detail the implied assumptions and the thereof resulting consequences for corporate governance, including some resulting inconsistencies. Overall, we find that in the discussion about „Corporate Governance‟ the often referred to principal-agent-conflict is rarely defined with the necessary rigor, but find that the model seems to be applied to almost any situation loosely tied to the topic of corporate governance. We conclude that due to the missing theoretical rigor and the missed developments in the area of management theory the resulting corporate governance policy recommendations are often inconsistent and that the commonly applied theoretical framework for corporate governance discussions might not be the most suitable one for policy recommendations as well as for regulatory actions.

Keywords: Corporate Governance, Theory, Agents, Principals

How to cite this paper: Dühnfort, A. M., Klein, C., & Lampenius, N. (2008). Theoretical foundations of corporate governance revisited: A critical review. Corporate Ownership & Control, 6(2-4), 424-433. https://doi.org/10.22495/cocv6i2c4p1