Board team leadership revisited: a conceptual model of shared leadership in the boardroom

Abstract

This theoretical paper aims to contribute to the promising stream of research which focuses on behavioural perspectives and processes within the corporate board, by delving into one of the research areas perhaps plagued most by the well-known methodological (i.e., input-output studies) and theoretical (i.e., agency theory) research fortresses of past board studies: board leadership. In adopting a team approach to the board of directors, our study goes beyond traditional board leadership research, which has turned a blind eye on actual leadership dynamics and has solely focused on structural leadership characteristics, by examining leadership processes and interactions inside the board team. Specifically, we develop a conceptual framework addressing a relatively novel team leadership conceptualization, i.e., shared leadership, which has been demonstrated to result in performance benefits in a wide range of team settings.