Resumo

Corporate governance research since the early 1990s has been dominated by a tradition of North American research focused on protecting investor equity. However, this positivist orientation presents little diversity to analyze the complexities and different contexts of corporate governance, offering gaps for dynamic approaches that involve other stakeholders and the interactions between them.

The aim of this paper is to explore the frontiers of research on Corporate Governance, analyzing the dominant theoretical framework, to propose a research agenda from the lens of practice theorists, especially Giddens, Bourdieu and Certeau.

We present in the theoretical framework the dominant approach to corporate governance advocated by agency theory (Jensen & Meclking, 1976), as well as alternative approaches employed in governance studies. Therefore, we articulate practical theorists (Giddens, 1996; Bourdieu, 1998; Certeau, 1984) with organizational studies and corporate governance.

The dominant approach in corporate governance emphasizes aspects related to the rational-utilitarian dimension to the detriment of social dimensions that involve the activities of executives, directors, auditors, shareholders, among others. Through research with a greater focus on everyday organizational life, it will be possible to explore corporate governance as an organizational and social practice, as well as encourage a more reflective and less reductionist approach to understanding corporate governance.

Without ignoring technical and political perspectives, social practices allow echoing the daily practices of its subjects within corporate governance, with investigations into the art of doing, overcoming a supposed passivity or submission to the orthodox aspects of the contractual nexus between agent and principal, increasing awareness of the complexity and interdependence in corporate governance practices from an interactive reading of the individuals and stakeholders involved.

Bourdieu, P., 1998. Practical Reason. Polity Press, Cambridge. Certeau, M. (1984) The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley: University of California Press Giddens, A (2006). La Constituición da la Sociedad. Buenos Aires: Amorrotu. Jensen, M. C., & Meckling, W. H. (1976). Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. Journal of financial economics, 3(4), 305-360. Young M. N. et al., (2008) Corporate governance in emerging economies: a review of the principal–principal perspective. Journal of Management Studies, 45(1), 196–220.