https://doi.org/10.1177/0007650320965154 Business & Society 1–39 © The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0007650320965154 journals.sagepub.com/home/bas Community Influential Directors and Corporate Social Performance Klavdia Evans 1 , Ashley Salaiz 2 , Seemantini Pathak 3 , and Dusya Vera 4 Abstract We draw upon the attention-based view of the firm to identify the conditions under which community influentials (CIs) on a board impact a firm’s corporate social performance (CSP). We test our hypotheses with a panel data set of Fortune 500 firms from 2004 to 2008, including 3,955 unique firm–director combinations (aggregated to the board level). Although CIs are often considered less powerful directors, we identify that when the firm is experiencing poor CSP, CIs have a positive effect on CSP. The ability of CIs to influence CSP is also conditional on the access of CIs and other board members to socially oriented board ties. Our article points out that power and influence is contingent on the decision context and the relative knowledge of organizational players, and that players with relatively lower power may improve their status and command attention when they can offer exclusive insight into important issues. Keywords board attention, board of directors, board ties, corporate social performance (CSP) 1 St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, TX, USA 2 The University of Tampa, FL, USA 3 University of Missouri–St. Louis, USA 4 University of Houston, TX, USA Corresponding Author: Klavdia Evans, Greehey School of Business, St. Mary’s University, One Camino Santa Maria, San Antonio, TX 78228, USA. Email: Kballard1@stmarytx.edu Article 965154BAS XX X 10.1177/0007650320965154Business & SocietyEvans et al. research-article 2020