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

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. Policy makers 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).