Research Interests

My research interests reside at the nexus of stakeholder strategies and corporate governance. In recent years, political polarization has spurred increasingly diverse stakeholder preferences, and the emergent generation of employees and customers is demonstrating a heightened tendency toward value-driven evaluations of corporations. Thus, my research aims to explain how strategic leaders interpret and respond to a variety of stakeholder pressures, especially those involving contentious issues and conflicts. Such pressures encompass large-scale, disruptive street protests, employee disapproval and resistance, and shareholder unrest. To answer this question, I draw upon and extend the insights of social movement theory and upper echelons theory.

Publications       

[2] Muhan Zhang, Forrest Briscoe, & Mark DesJardine. 2023. “Corporate Boards with Street Smarts? How Diffuse Street Protests Indirectly Shape Corporate Governance.” Administrative Science Quarterly (Forthcoming).

[1] Mark DesJardine, Muhan Zhang, & Wei Shi. 2023. “How Shareholders Impact Stakeholder Interests: A Review and Map for Future Research.” Journal of Management, 49(1): 400–429.

• #1 most-read paper published by the Journal of Management since 2022 (accessed July 9, 2023).