The Effects of Effort and Trust on Board of Directors' Performance

This study investigates the effects of board effort and trust on board performance. Information acquisition and meeting behavior are used as proxies for board effort; cognitive conflict and trust are used to represent the degree of alignment between board and management. Based on a questionnaire survey of small and medium sized Chinese companies, we hypothesize and find that information acquisition and trust have a positive and significant impact on board's role performance; meeting preparation positively affects the strategic role, whereas meeting frequency has a positive effect on monitoring role of the board. The study provides meaningful insights for improving board effectiveness.