Chapter 2 Resource dependence theory: Past and future

This chapter reviews the origins and primary arguments of resource dependence theory and traces its influence on the subsequent literatures in multiple social science and professional disciplines, contrasting it with Emerson’s power-dependence theory. Recent years have seen an upsurge in the theory’s citations in the literature, which we attribute in part to Stanford’s position of power in the network of academic exchange. We conclude with a review of some promising lines of recent research that extend and qualify resource dependence theory’s insights, and outline potentially fruitful areas of future research.