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Pressures from non-profit sport organizations’ (NPSOs) external environment influence governance structures and processes. Thus, this study explores the impact of external factors on NPSO board decision making.

Using a sample of six NPSO boards (two national, four provincial/territorial), data were collected via 36 observations, 18 interviews, and over 900 documents. A thematic analysis was conducted via NVivo 12.

Results identified two external factors impacting NPSO board decision making: the sport system structure and general environment conditions. External factors impacted NPSO board decision making in terms of duration, flow, interaction, and scrutiny.

Results demonstrate the need for NPSO boards to engage in boundary-spanning activities whereby external information sources from stakeholders are incorporated to make informed decisions. Practically, NPSO boards should harness virtual meetings to continue their operations while incorporating risk management analyses to assess threats and opportunities.

This study aims to open up the black box of the boardroom by directly observing directors’ interactions during meetings to better understand board processes.

We analyze videotaped observations of board meetings at two Australian companies to develop insights into what directors do in meetings and how they participate in decision-making processes. The direct observations are triangulated with semi-structured interviews, mini-surveys and document reviews.

Our analyses lead to two key findings: while board meetings appear similar at a surface level, boardroom interactions vary significantly at a deeper level (i.e. board members participate differently during different stages of discussions), and factors at multiple levels of analysis explain differences in interaction patterns, revealing the complex and nested nature of boardroom discussions.

By documenting significant intra- and inter-board meeting differences, our study challenges the widespread notion of board meetings as rather homogeneous and monolithic, points towards agenda items as a new unit of analysis and highlights the need for more multi-level analyses in a board setting.

While policymakers have been largely occupied with the “right” board composition, our findings suggest that decision outcomes or roles’ execution could be potentially affected by interactions at a board level. Differences in board meeting styles might explain prior ambiguous board structure-performance results, enhancing the need for greater normative consideration of how boards do their work.

This study complements existing research on boardroom dynamics and provides a systematic account of director interactions during board meetings.

This paper aims to provide further evidence on asymmetric cost behavior (cost stickiness) from one of the emerging economies, Egypt. The study provides empirical evidence on the potential impact of corporate governance on nature and extent of asymmetric cost behavior.

The study estimates three multiple regression models using ordinary least squares to examine the behavior of cost of goods sold (COGS) and the influence of board characteristics and other control variables in a sample of 80 listed companies during 2008-2013.

The analysis provides evidence on COGS asymmetric behavior, where the analysis finds that COGS increases by 1.05 per cent but decrease by 0.85 per cent for an equivalent activity change of 1 per cent, which contradicts the traditional cost model assumption that costs behave linearly. In addition, the analysis finds that firm-year observations with larger boards, role duality and higher non-executives ratio exhibit greater cost asymmetry than others, while firms-years with successive sales decrease, higher economic growth and institutional ownership found to exhibit lower cost stickiness.

This study contributes by providing evidence on asymmetric cost behavior from one of emerging economies. Further, the study extends the very few studies on the relationship between corporate governance and asymmetric cost behavior. In addition, the study contributes by examining a different cost type (COGS) that has been examined by very few studies. Finally, the study provides an evaluation of the 2007 Egyptian Corporate Governance Code in the cost behavior context.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between boards and board activity and subsequent business performance, in the context of high-growth companies, through the lens of decision making and business performance.

A critical realist approach was used to conduct a longitudinal multiple-case study of two medium-sized, quasi-public high-growth companies. Data collection included first-hand observations of boards in session, semi-structured interviews with key actors and the inspection of board and company documentation. An iterative approach to analysis was used to gain an in-depth understanding of how the boards worked and how they sought to exert influence.

The paper provides empirical insight about board involvement in strategic management. A proactive involvement by boards in the strategy development process and assessment of strategic options, and a collaborative form of board involvement in strategic management together with management is indicated as being important if the board is to exert influence beyond the boardroom. A conceptual model of a collaborative form of board-management interaction is developed.

The paper provides guidance for boards, suggesting that a more direct level of involvement in strategic management by the board together with management may be material to improved business performance.

The paper responds to calls for more research on the relationship between boards and business performance. It contributes much-needed first-hand evidence from within the boardroom.

This paper aims to investigate the intersection between corporate governance and management accounting information within the board meeting of an English further education college.

The empirical fieldwork uses an interventionist approach. Board members’ mental models of a management accounting boundary object are analysed.

The paper supports Parker (2007) and Cornforth and Edward’s (1999) observation that within a board meeting, collaborative “micro-management” type talk is considered to lie outside the acceptable remit of non-executive and executive board member interaction. Such an attitude can prevent an intertwining of management accounting information and other mental models of an organisation occurring. This can preclude management accounting information from rendering an organisation visible, in an expansive manner, within a boardroom.

Interventionist researchers working within the black box of the board are encouraged to design more radical and collaborative interventions than the interview/report format used here.

Non-executive directors might benefit from being offered the opportunity to interact with management accounting information outside the formal board meeting and committee structure.

A deeper understanding of how directors’ mental models, boardroom behaviours and attitudes influence their interaction with management accounting information is offered. Insight into the limitations of using management accounting information in the boardroom is developed.

This study explores interactional dynamics and relational tensions within English NHS Foundation Trust board meetings that are influenced by governance structure and the board composition.

This paper draws upon an ethnonarrative approach to enable the understanding of the nuances of boardroom interactions. Data was collected through participant observation of board of directors’ and board of governors’ meetings and narrative interviews from directors and governors of two NHS Foundation Trusts. Data was analyzed through thematic narrative analysis to enable the identification and understanding of the patterns and the hidden tensions in boards.

Findings reveal that board interactions are influenced strongly by the nexus of structural, contextual and human elements of governance. Three main findings are highlighted: a lack of clarity of the governors’ and chairpersons’ roles which create ambiguities within board processes; the large size of the board of governors disrupts meaningful discussions in board meetings; the unacceptability and avoidance of governors’ accountability by the directors creates a struggle for supremacy and legitimacy in boards.

Future research can explore both the positive and negative outcomes of board behaviors, which are influenced by the perceived built-in tensions in governance structures. In addition, access to other spaces of governance, such as, subcommittee meetings and private board meetings can further enrich our understanding of board dynamics.

This study attempts to uncover the neglected modes of interactions within boards through a combination of two disparate perspectives: board structures/composition and interactions through an ethnonarrative approach.

The importance of hospital board engagement in the work of governing healthcare quality has been demonstrated in the literature. Research into influences on effective corporate governance has traditionally focused on board architecture. Emerging research is bringing to light the importance of governance dynamics. This paper contributes to emerging research through highlighting how communication and leadership underpin effective engagement in governing healthcare quality.

A comparative case study of eight Australian public hospitals was undertaken involving document review, interviews and observations. Case studies were allocated into high- or low-engagement categories based on evidence of governance processes being undertaken, in order to compare and contrast influencing factors. Thematic analysis was undertaken to explore how communication and leadership influence healthcare governance.

Several key components of communication and leadership are shown to influence healthcare quality governance. Clear logical narratives in reporting, open communication, effective questioning and challenge from board members are important elements of communication found to influence engagement. Leadership that has a focus on healthcare excellence and quality improvement are aligned and promote effective meeting processes is also found to foster governance engagement. Effective engagement in these communication and leadership processes facilitate valuable reflexivity at the governance level.

The findings highlight the way in which boards and senior managers can strengthen governance effectiveness through attention to key aspects of communication and leadership.

The case study approach allows the exploration of communication and leadership in greater depth than previously undertaken at the corporate governance level in the healthcare setting.

Corporate accountability is a complex chain of reporting that reaches from external stakeholders into the organization’s management structure. The transition from external to internal accountability mechanisms primarily occurs at the board of directors. Yet outside of incentive mechanisms, we know surprisingly little about how internal actors (management) are held to account by the representatives of external shareholders (the board). The purpose of this paper is to explore the process of accountability at this transition point by documenting the routines used by boards to hold the firm’s management to account. In doing so, we develop the understanding of the important transition between internal and external firm accountability.

An inductive, case-based approach identifies recurrent behaviour patterns in two matched boards over three video-taped meetings. Sequential analysis of coded group and individual behaviours provides insight into boards’ accountability routines.

The boards engaged in clear, recurrent accountability routines. Individuals on the boards play different roles in these routines depending on the issue before the board, allowing both directors and managers to hold each other to account. The outsiders (directors) both challenge and support the insiders (managers) during board discussions, switching their behaviours with different agenda items but maintaining a consistent group level of support and scepticism across the meeting. This allows for the simultaneous development of trust and verification at the group level, a necessary condition for effective accountability.

As board relationships and organisational context are highly variable, future research should concentrate on testing the generalizability of the results across different board and shareholder structures.

The results call into question the current governance focus on the independence of the individual director, as the authors identify that all directors appear to act as agents at one time or another in a meeting. Accountability at the boardroom level requires an effective group process not usually addressed in governance recommendations or regulation.

This study provides unique insights into board dynamics, documenting the accountability implications of group behaviours. By focussing on the group process, the authors highlight the potential mismatch of monotonic, individual-level approaches to governance and accountability prevalent in current agency approaches.

This study aims to focus on the accountability of organizations to multiple stakeholders with differing interests and power, where there is an absence of accountability towards shareholders.

Longitudinal field study via participant‐observation.

The study focuses on the relations between the subsidiary and the parent boards and how a governance improvement plan affected the internal dynamics of the organization and helped to clarify the demands of multiple stakeholders. A stakeholder‐agency model is developed which emphasises the role of governance, the importance of structure and process, and the culture or ethos of boards in which multiple stakeholders may have compatible rather than competing interests.

The paper focuses on the quasi‐public sector and develops stakeholder‐agency theory by identifying governance at the centre of differing relationships with stakeholders with unequal salience where there is both an economic concern with efficiency and a broader social concern.

This literature review seeks to engage with the discussion of the limitations of studying corporate governance processes as a “black box” by developing a theoretical framework for qualitative corporate governance research that can support the design of future hermeneutic research into corporate governance practices.

The approach is to develop a qualitative research framework based on the methodological discussions in the business and sociology literatures, and compare it with existing alternative research frameworks in the corporate governance literature and three qualitative field studies in corporate governance.

This paper identifies methodological gaps that have made it difficult for extant qualitative studies of corporate governance to capture the complexity of the practices they have studied. This paper suggests three main implications for future qualitative corporate governance research: it should seek to articulate the multiple meanings of corporate governance rules, techniques, and processes as they arise in practice in order to facilitate a better discussion of the complexity of corporate governance practices; it should reflect on the role of the researcher in the field and his/her interactions with the subjects because through those interactions the multiple meanings of practice can be detected by the researcher; it should seek to articulate how the authors of research papers choose the contexts in which they place their observations from the field and how they variously zoom in and out of their fields of study to foreground either local detail or the wider contexts.

Through a close reading of alternative corporate governance research frameworks and qualitative studies this paper explains how future scholarly and practical corporate governance research can produce insights into the lived experience of corporate governance.