Lex Donaldson

20.1k total citations · 6 hit papers
69 papers, 13.1k citations indexed

About

Lex Donaldson is a scholar working on Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, Strategy and Management and Accounting. According to data from OpenAlex, Lex Donaldson has authored 69 papers receiving a total of 13.1k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 23 papers in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management, 20 papers in Strategy and Management and 11 papers in Accounting. Recurrent topics in Lex Donaldson's work include Management and Organizational Studies (19 papers), Innovation and Knowledge Management (12 papers) and Corporate Finance and Governance (10 papers). Lex Donaldson is often cited by papers focused on Management and Organizational Studies (19 papers), Innovation and Knowledge Management (12 papers) and Corporate Finance and Governance (10 papers). Lex Donaldson collaborates with scholars based in Australia, United States and United Kingdom. Lex Donaldson's co-authors include James H. Davis, F. David Schoorman, Hüseyin Leblebici, David J. Hickson, Ben Nanfeng Luo, Jane Qiu, Howard E. Aldrich, John Child, Malcolm Warner and Peter A. Heslin and has published in prestigious journals such as Academy of Management Review, Contemporary Sociology A Journal of Reviews and Administrative Science Quarterly.

In The Last Decade

Lex Donaldson

67 papers receiving 11.4k citations

Hit Papers

TOWARD A STEWARDSHIP THEORY OF MANAGEMENT 1990 2026 2002 2014 1997 1991 2001 1997 1997 500 1000 1.5k 2.0k
What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

  1. TOWARD A STEWARDSHIP THEORY OF MANAGEMENT
    1997 2.5k citations James H. Davis, Lex Donaldson et al. Academy of Management Review profile →
  2. Stewardship Theory or Agency Theory: CEO Governance and Shareholder Returns
    1991 2.3k citations Lex Donaldson, James H. Davis Australian Journal of Management profile →
  3. The Contingency Theory of Organizations
    2001 1.8k citations Lex Donaldson profile →
  4. Toward a Stewardship Theory of Management
    1997 1.6k citations James H. Davis, Lex Donaldson et al. Academy of Management Review profile →
  5. Strategic Leadership: Top Executives and Their Effects on Organizations
    1997 1.4k citations Lex Donaldson Australian Journal of Management profile →
  6. The Ethereal Hand: Organizational Economics and Management Theory
    1990 618 citations Lex Donaldson Academy of Management Review profile →

Peers — A (Enhanced Table)

Peers by citation overlap · career bar shows stage (early→late) cites · hero ref

Name h Career Trend Papers Cites
Lex Donaldson Australia 30 6.3k 4.8k 4.6k 1.6k 1.6k 69 13.1k
Jay W. Lorsch United States 24 4.2k 0.7× 6.2k 1.3× 3.3k 0.7× 1.3k 0.8× 2.3k 1.4× 65 14.1k
Dan R. Dalton United States 61 11.5k 1.8× 5.9k 1.2× 5.6k 1.2× 1.8k 1.1× 1.0k 0.6× 201 17.8k
John A. Pearce United States 40 4.9k 0.8× 3.9k 0.8× 3.2k 0.7× 1.6k 1.0× 912 0.6× 127 9.8k
Edward J. Zajac United States 55 8.3k 1.3× 9.3k 1.9× 5.6k 1.2× 1.9k 1.2× 1.8k 1.1× 123 18.1k
James D. Westphal United States 44 9.4k 1.5× 6.0k 1.3× 5.2k 1.1× 1.5k 0.9× 929 0.6× 90 14.5k
John Child United Kingdom 58 4.0k 0.6× 10.3k 2.1× 5.2k 1.1× 2.1k 1.3× 2.2k 1.3× 190 18.0k
Anil K. Gupta United States 42 3.0k 0.5× 7.9k 1.6× 3.0k 0.6× 2.5k 1.5× 1.7k 1.0× 77 13.0k
S. Trevis Certo United States 35 7.2k 1.1× 4.7k 1.0× 3.4k 0.7× 2.0k 1.3× 977 0.6× 61 13.2k
Scott A. Snell United States 43 2.6k 0.4× 7.0k 1.5× 6.8k 1.5× 1.9k 1.2× 1.9k 1.2× 74 15.1k
Albert A. Cannella United States 57 10.8k 1.7× 6.7k 1.4× 6.5k 1.4× 2.7k 1.6× 776 0.5× 114 17.6k

Countries citing papers authored by Lex Donaldson

Since Specialization
Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of Lex Donaldson's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by Lex Donaldson with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites Lex Donaldson more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by Lex Donaldson

Since Specialization
Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by Lex Donaldson. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by Lex Donaldson. The network helps show where Lex Donaldson may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of Lex Donaldson

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of Lex Donaldson. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of Lex Donaldson based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with Lex Donaldson. Lex Donaldson is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

20 of 20 papers shown
1.
Donaldson, Lex, Steven D. Charlier, & Jane Qiu. (2012). Organizational Portfolio Analysis: Focusing on Risk Inside the Corporation. Long Range Planning. 45(4). 235–257. 6 indexed citations
2.
Qiu, Jane & Lex Donaldson. (2010). The Cubic Contingency Model: towards a more comprehensive international strategy-structure model. Journal of General Management. 36(1). 81–100. 9 indexed citations
3.
Donaldson, Lex. (2005). Vita Contemplativa. Organization Studies. 26(7). 1071–1088. 30 indexed citations
4.
Donaldson, Lex. (2002). Damned by Our Own Theories: Contradictions Between Theories and Management. 2 indexed citations
5.
Donaldson, Lex. (2002). Damned by Our Own Theories: Contradictions Between Theories and Management Education. Academy of Management Learning and Education. 1(1). 96–106. 119 indexed citations
6.
Donaldson, Lex. (2001). The Contingency Theory of Organizations. 1761 indexed citations breakdown →
7.
Donaldson, Lex. (2001). Reflections on Knowledge and Knowledgeintensive Firms. Human Relations. 54(7). 955–963. 43 indexed citations
8.
Heslin, Peter A. & Lex Donaldson. (1999). An Organizational Portfolio Theory of Board Composition. Corporate Governance An International Review. 7(1). 81–88. 19 indexed citations
9.
Donaldson, Lex. (1999). Performance-Driven Organizational Change: The Organizational Portfolio. 50 indexed citations
10.
Donaldson, Lex. (1997). . Human Relations. 50(9). 1177–1190. 1 indexed citations
11.
Donaldson, Lex, et al.. (1996). The Trivialization of Management. The McKinsey Quarterly. 26. 2 indexed citations
12.
Donaldson, Lex & James H. Davis. (1991). Stewardship Theory or Agency Theory: CEO Governance and Shareholder Returns. Australian Journal of Management. 16(1). 49–64. 2263 indexed citations breakdown →
13.
Donaldson, Lex. (1990). The Ethereal Hand: Organizational Economics and Management Theory. Academy of Management Review. 15(3). 369–369. 234 indexed citations
14.
Donaldson, Lex. (1989). Redirections in Organisational Analysis. Australian Journal of Management. 14(2). 245–254. 30 indexed citations
15.
Donaldson, Lex. (1988). In Successful Defence of Organization Theory: A Routing of the Critics. Organization Studies. 9(1). 28–32. 27 indexed citations
16.
Donaldson, Lex. (1987). STRATEGY AND STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT TO REGAIN FIT AND PERFORMANCE: IN DEFENCE OF CONTINGENCY THEORY. Journal of Management Studies. 24(1). 1–24. 264 indexed citations
17.
Donaldson, Lex. (1985). In defence of organization theory : a reply to the critics. Cambridge University Press eBooks. 131 indexed citations
18.
Donaldson, Lex. (1985). ORGANIZATION DESIGN AND THE LIFE‐CYCLES OF PRODUCTS [1]. Journal of Management Studies. 22(1). 25–37. 24 indexed citations
19.
Donaldson, Lex. (1976). WOODWARD, TECHNOLOGY, ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND PERFORMANCE — A CRITIQUE OF THE UNIVERSAL GENERALIZATION. Journal of Management Studies. 13(3). 255–273. 27 indexed citations
20.
Donaldson, Lex & Malcolm Warner. (1974). Structure of Organizations in Occupational Interest Associations. Human Relations. 27(8). 721–738. 13 indexed citations

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

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