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While most nonprofit organisations provide guidelines to be followed by their governing bodies in terms of responsibilities and duties, implementation of these guidelines is often problematic (Harris, 1989; Herman & Heimovics, 1991). The board of trustees of the non‐profit organisation has one responsibility: to keep the organisation on a straight course for the long term good of the whole; that is, to see that the organisation fulfils its mission (Zander, 1993). But evidence suggests that this description is more straightforward than actual practice would suggest.

A board peopled with renegades Is a disaster waiting to happen. Here's how to bring the renegades back Into the fold.

The modern corporation is evaluated by many measures that go beyond profit, which was the emphasis for years previously. Today’s corporation is weighed against expectations of many stakeholders, including not just customers but employees, investors, the government and even the public at large with no discernible financial or other tie to a company. As such, corporate boards necessarily must be concerned with more than financial performance, including corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the increasing emphasis on environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics. Given that public relations scholars and practitioners have long been concerned with stakeholder relationships, social responsibility and other non-financial indicators, it would make sense that public relations has a more obvious presence on corporate boards.

This study examined the 25 companies in the Fortune Modern Board 25 to determine how many board members had a background or expertise in public relations that would contribute to the leadership necessary for the concerns of the modern corporation, and whether the boards had a committee designated to public relations or related functions.

Results show that there are few corporate boards that have public relations represented prominently in either their members or committees. The same is true for executive leadership teams. Public relations or communications executives do appear to play some role in ESG, CSR and DEI reporting, but often there are staff members with those specific titles and roles.

The study was limited to 25 corporations on a Forbes list that ranked them as best in communicating ESG, CSR and DEI. The method examined publicly available literature which was revealing to the research questions, but more could be learned by interview or survey with CCOs.

The study shows the current presence of public relations capacity in terms of members of corporate boards, corporate committees and among the C-suite is not significant. Also, rather than PR as a function owning modern concerns of DEI, ESG and CSR, there are professionals with specific expertise in those areas who are responsible for those corporate issues.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR), ESG (environmental, social, governance) and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) have recently been stressed as important for corporations to measure and report. The role of the public relations profession in managing and/or communicating in these areas is important to consider in terms of public expectations and satisfaction of communication on these subjects.

This paper is unique in integrating public relations theory and practice with board theory and the current management concerns with ESG, CSR and DEI. Little if any previous research has considered which professions are in charge of communicating on these concerns.

This study aims to analyze the interplay between male and female board members’ beliefs about women’s competence to fill board positions (valence), the perceived benefits of a greater gender-balanced boardroom (value) and the significance attributed to the gender quota law as a relevant instrument in eliciting change in board composition.

Looking through the lens of expectancy-value theory, the authors investigate whether the perceived benefits of a gender quota law mediate the path between the beliefs about women’s competence to become board members and the perceived benefits of a greater gender-balanced representation in the boardroom. In addition, the authors investigate whether female and male board members share the same beliefs about a gender-balanced representation.

The results show that there are differences in beliefs about women’s competencies to become board members and the perceived benefits of a greater gender-balanced boardroom. Female board members hold stronger beliefs on the competence of women to fill board positions and, thus, assign greater importance to the gender quota law, which, in turn, impacts the greater significance attributed to equal representation of women in the boardroom.

The findings shed new light on the debate concerning gender quotas aimed at promoting gender-balanced boardrooms by pointing out that differences in value expectations between male and female board members may prevent intraboard gender-equal dynamics.

The study contributes to the literature by adding new insights on how male and female board members perceive the value of legally bound gender quotas, in association with their beliefs about women’s competence to fill board positions (valence) and their expectations in terms of the beneficial outcomes of a more gender-balanced board composition.

This study aims to examine the role of royal family members’ board of directors, as a specific aspect of corporate governance, on the firm’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosures. Many firms in the world enjoy special political connections, benefit from tax exemptions and favorable treatments that are largely responsible for their economic endurance and strong performance.

The authors collect data from Thomson Reuters database on Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-listed firms for 2010–2018. Royal family board directors’ data is manually collected using a systematic approach to ensure accuracy. Fixed effects’ panel regression model is used to estimate relationships. The authors interact variables to test the moderating effect of board independence and sustainability committee on the influence of royal family board directors.

This study finds that royal family directors on GCC boards negotiate fewer ESG reporting in firms. While board independence, board gender diversity, sustainability committee and governance committee increase the level of ESG-disclosures in the traditional way of reducing agency costs to stakeholders, this study finds that royal family board members convey beneficial consequences on firms without perceiving the need to disclose their ESG activities. Additionally, these firms do not show a spillover effect from the royal family members on the board’s independence or the existence of a sustainability committee; rather these members use a different channel for protecting and building the business value. These results are robust with respect to controls for company size, leverage, return on assets and growth. Instrumental variables are then introduced in the analysis to perform a sensitivity test.

The study results indicate the need to improve GCC market transparency over supplementary limitations that exist on their corporate governance condition. This may be consequential to regulators, lenders and investors. The results suggest the need to raise awareness of the importance of governance and balancing firms’ financial and social performance in the presence of royal family board directors. Policymakers and governance agencies are responsible for promoting the importance of forming sustainability committees and having a set of performance indicators that measure the effectiveness of their actions.

This study aims to investigate the impact of extensive board diversity on firm performance from the perspective of resource-based view (RBV) theory in the context of Pakistan.

The analyses are made using a panel random-effects model and generalized method of moment (GMM) across 188 non-financial firms listed in the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) over the period of 2009–2020. The robustness of findings is checked through alternative measurements of the variables and alternative estimation techniques.

The results show that board members' nationality, ethnicity and educational level diversities are significantly positively related to firm performance. In contrast, age and educational background diversities negatively affect firm performance. However, gender and tenure diversities have an insignificant relationship with firm performance.

This study is conducted in the context of Pakistani firms; thus, the findings may not be generalizable to other economies because different economies have different institutional settings and governance structures.

The policy-makers should encourage the inclusion of board members' nationality, ethnicity and educational level diversities having relevant educational backgrounds to improve firms' competitive performance. The suggested structure of the corporate board may improve firm performance by attracting multiple stakeholders and fulfilling their expectations.

The appointment of a director should be based on merit rather than on political connections or personnel relationships to improve social welfare and avoid their negative impact on firm competitive performance.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the impact of board diversity on firm accounting-based performance and market-based performance in the emerging economy of Pakistan. This study uses RBV theory to provide a unique corporate governance structure based on board diversity, particularly in Pakistan.

Literature has suggested that the agenda of corporate social responsibility (CSR) is an extension of corporate governance (CG) and would be under the responsibility of the board of directors. In this sense, the authors seek to understand the perception of board members on the CSR issue.

Exploratory survey with 128 Brazilian board members was carried out. The authors looked at their perception about the incorporation of CSR in business agendas and on what they consider when deciding on issues related to CSR.

The results show that board members understand the organization more as an entity that has a social role to play than something that simply acts pragmatically. This position is reflected in their decision-making processes rather than in the values and beliefs of the controllers’ majority shareholders, which consider what creates long-term value for organizations. The directors seek to create and maintain value for organizations for them to operate sustainably.

This research contributes to structuring boards. When choosing board members, having only technical requirements is no longer sufficient; their psychological profile and history also need to be taken into account. It also contributes to the drafting of CSR policies by showing what board members think of CSR and how they make decisions.

This study focuses on understanding how the director as an individual observes CSR. Much has been studied about CG, CSR and board members; however, little is known regarding the opinion of board members with regard to CSR. The authors are suggesting an approach to the singularities of directors as another direction in governance research.

The paper aims to investigate how the governance practices of public-sector entities (PSEs) in Tanzania are shaped by competing institutional logics and strategies used to manage the logics.

In the paper, empirical evidence was gathered through documentary sources, non-participant observations and in-depth interviews with members of boards of directors (BoDs), chief executive officers (CEOs), internal and external auditors, senior executives and ministry officials. The data were analyzed using thematic and pattern-matching approaches.

The paper shows that bureaucratic and market logics co-exist and variations in governance practices within and across categories of PSEs. These are reflected in CEO appointments, multiple roles of CEOs, board member appointments, board composition, multiple board membership, board roles and evaluation of board performance. External audits also foster market logic in governance practices. The two competing logics are managed by actors through selective coupling, compromise, decoupling and compartmentalization. Despite competing logics, the bureaucratic logic remains dominant and is largely responsible for variations between the underlying logics and governance practices.

The findings suggest that public-sector reforms in emerging economies (EEs) must account for the fact that governance practices in PSEs are shaped by different institutional logics embedded in socioeconomic, political and organizational contexts and their corresponding management strategies.

Few previous studies explicitly report relationships between institutional logics and the governance practices of PSEs in EEs. The current study is one of few empirical studies to connect competing institutional logics and the associated management strategies, as well as governance practices in EEs in the context of public-sector reforms.

Despite indications of scholarly interest, there are still gaps in the research of the concept of felt accountability, especially the felt accountability of board members. This paper aims to clarify the sources of accountability experienced by board members. Especially those in a non-executive capacity. How these sources can be accessed to enhance felt accountability and thereby governance effectiveness is explored.

Qualitative, exploratory research methods were used. In total, 15 semi-structured, in-depth interviews were completed with non-executive board members of Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed companies in South Africa. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse data.

The findings clarified the formal and informal sources of accountability experienced by non-executive board members. This included relational and structural mechanisms that can be used within corporate governance to enhance both types of accountability. Accessing the identified sources of accountability through appropriate mechanisms could increase the levels of felt accountability experienced by the individual non-executive board member, thereby strengthening accountability inside the boardroom and improving overall board effectiveness. The study also revealed a layer of implicit and explicit accountability.

The study was conducted solely in South Africa, with non-executive board members of Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed companies.

There is limited research that clarifies the sources of accountability experienced by non-executive board members. This study aims to address this gap in the literature by providing techniques on how to enable the clarified sources of accountability to improve governance effectiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on the issue of professional development education for school board members. The research question that guides this mixed study is: does school board member professional development have an effect on student achievement?

The standardized protocol for this study was to send a developed questionnaire to 50 directors of state school board associations. An inductive analysis was made of the state school board directors' responses on whether they felt professional development had a positive effect on student achievement. Their responses were then compared with Education Week's 2009 rating of state education systems.

From the response from the 26 responding state directors, the study found that most states do not require professional development for school board members. State board directors did feel that school board professional development had a positive effect on student achievement. Of the states that did require school board professional development, they received an overall rating of B or C according to the Education Week 2009 rating, while those states that did not require professional development received a rating of C or D.

Mixed research such as this adds to the conversation of the need for required school board professional development but the findings need to be re‐analyzed with all 50 states responding.

The practical implications are profound in that it is desired that children should succeed and learn in quality schools. School board members' lack of education (i.e. they only require high‐school diploma or GED) has an effect on student achievement. School board members need to take required professional development in all areas of public schooling so that quality decisions can be made for children's education.

The social implications are that school board member professional development sends a message to students that continued adult learning is necessary in all walks of life for the USA to continue its leadership in the world.

School board members with the barest qualifications are elected to, in essence, run public schools. Little research has been done about the effects of school board member education on student achievement. This paper explores the voices of state directors in relation to professional development for school board members in US public school discourse and fills some of the gaps in the research.