Board member success: The development of a competency model

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT : A need exists to understand and explain effective board functioning in a holistic sense with regard to corporate governance. Research has shown that meeting the formal, quantitative board outcomes (i.e. compliance with explicit rules and regulations that regulate board and director conduct), falls short of achieving the real intent behind corporate governance. This calls for a focus on also the informal, qualitative outcomes (e.g. group processes and board culture). The fulfillment of these board outcomes, however, constitutes only one part of the board member success equation. It is also important to understand how they are achieved, in other words, the demonstration of the required competency behaviours by individual directors to achieve the outcomes. This study proposes a holistic conceptualisation of board member success that includes the fulfillment of formal and informal board outcomes through the display of underlying competency behaviours. To this end, the intention was first to reach a broader understanding of board outcomes to align it better to the spirit of good corporate governance. Secondly, and most importantly, the study was geared towards explicating the behaviours necessary to execute these outcomes successfully. Moreover, the study aimed to explore the relationships between the competencies and the outcomes in order to better understand how these two sides of the same coin interact in order to create board member success. The literature review guided the development of a preliminary competency model reflecting proposed board outcomes and competency behaviours, as well as possible relationships between them. This was followed by a qualitative research phase including critical incident interviews with 22 directors and the use of grounded theory as strategy of inquiry to code and analyse the data. The results confirmed the relevance of the outcomes and competency categories, as well as demonstrated the interplay between them, thus generating a plausible model that can be empirically tested in follow-up studies. The process also led to the identification of behavioural dimensions underlying the competency categories, thus providing rich insights into the specific actions associated with good corporate governance. Together, these findings provide a valuable source of information that can inform the selection and development of directors, capable of creating effective corporate governance in a comprehensive manner.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University