510: Board Structures and Innovation (13003)

Fitting with the “Innovating for the Future” theme of the conference, the goal of this caucus is to share, develop, and discuss emergent ideas examining the effects of board structure, composition, and dynamics on corporate innovation strategies and outcomes. By bringing together experts from corporate governance and innovation, it is our intention to create cross-fertilization between both research fields and develop a future research agenda.

The board of directors is at the apex of making strategic decisions, setting long-term objectives, and advising and monitoring management during strategy implementation (Fama & Jensen, 1983; Forbes & Milliken, 1999; Hillman & Dalziel. 2003) Building upon that premise, a large body of research has demonstrated how the structure, dynamics, and functions of boards affect corporate development activities, such as marketing strategies and financial restructuring (e.g., Baysinger & Hoskisson, 1990; Bowman & Singh, 1993; Finkelstein, Hambrick & Cannella, 2009; Pugliese et al., 2009). Yet, there has been surprisingly limited research on how boards of directors affect firm innovation strategies. This is remarkable given the recent studies that have shown how CEOs and top management teams have strong influences on firm innovation outcomes (Boone et al., 2019; Kiss et al., 2020; Kurzhals, Graf-Vlachy & König, 2020; Singh et al., 2021). Extending research in this area is also timely given the increasing diversity in innovation strategies that firms can adopt, including open innovation policies, platform strategies, and corporate venturing (Kretschmer et al., 2022; Masucci, Brusoni & Cennamo, 2020; Waldkirch, Kammerlander & Wiedeler, 2021). Given this lack of cross-fertilization between these two research fields in strategic management, we believe there are plenty of opportunities for future research. On the one hand, boards are increasingly involved in steering and controlling firm innovation strategies. For example, the appointment of chief technology and/or chief digital officers as well as the formation of board technology committees indicate the importance of innovation for directors (Clark et al., 2020; Firk et al., 2021; Kunisch, Menz & Langan, 2022). On the other hand, firm innovation strategies have become progressively integrated with overall corporate and business strategies. For instance, firms can intentionally use acquisitions as a matter of obtaining breakthrough technologies or commercialize the outcomes of their R&D activities (Ahuja & Katila, 2001; Bhussar et al., 2022; Vinokurova & Kapoor, 2020). Firms can also pursue innovation through joint product development or out-licensing through various forms of partnerships (Klueter, Moreira & Ofoedu, 2023; Oxley, 1997; Oxley & Sampson, 2014). Interestingly, both acquisitions as well as partnerships have their own unique governance challenges that corporate boards, technological committees or chief technology officers need to deal with. This caucus intends to bring together academic experts in corporate governance as well as key scholars in R&D and innovation. Corporate governance scholars have long specialized in the role of board structure, composition, functions and board dynamics. Research in innovation has long focused on different aspects of firm innovation. By bringing together scholars from both fields we intend to establish a future research agenda. Each of the speakers will build upon their prior work and insights on the topic and give their perspective on the intersection of boards and innovation. By providing the audience with the opportunity to question these specialists, the caucus aims to create fertile ground for interaction and collaboration on this theme of research among all attendants.