WOMEN DIRECTORS AND BOARD TASK PERFORMANCE: MEDIATING AND MODERATING EFFECTS OF BOARD WORKING STYLE

Abstract

This paper investigates the mediating and moderating effects of board working style on the relationship between women board members and board task performance. Based on a survey of the CEOs of 249 Norwegian firms, we explore the proposition that women directors have influence on board dynamics and effectiveness. Drawing upon resource-dependence and agency theories, we hypothesize that the number of women directors will have differential impacts on the three main board tasks: service, financial control and qualitative control roles and that these effects will be influenced by intervening board working style variables such as trust, maintenance activities and length of board meetings. Our results suggest that the number of women directors has a direct negative impact on the performance of two of the board tasks, namely, financial control and service task. In addition, the interaction effect of women directors and length of board meetings seems to have a negative impact on the performance of qualitative control. At the same time, there is marginal support for a positive moderating effect of board trust on the link between women directors and qualitative control performance. Furthermore, our results clearly indicate that the effects of women board members on team effectiveness differ by the nature of the task performed. The results of this study confirm that in-depth exploration of board working styles and board role performance help to further advance the current understanding about the influence of board members in general and women directors in particular on board effectiveness.

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