Title: Shifting attention from 'board anatomy' to 'board physiology' to understand the roles of directors: evidence from UK companies

Authors: Ioannis Gkliatis; Dimitrios N. Koufopoulos

Addresses: Hertfordshire Business School, University of Hertfordshire, De Havilland Campus, Hatfield, Hertfordshire, AL10 9AB, UK ' Global MBA Programme, University of London, UK; Centre for Commercial Law Studies, School of Law, Queen Mary University of London, UK; Hellenic Observatory of Corporate Governance, UK

Abstract: The study seeks to delineate the roles of board directors under agency and resource dependence perspectives. The literature review conducted suggests further research in clarifying the directors' roles. The results of the principal component analysis from 115 surveyed board directors in the UK suggest that while the dominant roles used in the literature are still supported, they do not capture the whole picture of directors' roles. The study advocates that future research on directors' roles should consider additional tasks and also that researchers should account these roles as a continuum, rather than independent to each other. A new set of six roles is offered, highlighting some undervalued roles. Policymakers may benefit from this study by paying further attention to the important functional aspects of the board, as current focus is mainly on the structural elements. Also, strong recommendation is made to shift attention from board characteristics (anatomy) to board functions (physiology).

Keywords: corporate governance; board roles; agency theory; resource dependence theory; RDT; UK.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBGE.2024.138182

International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, 2024 Vol.18 No.3, pp.313 - 332

Accepted: 01 Dec 2022
Published online: 30 Apr 2024 *

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