Directors’ Perceptions of Multiple Concurrent Board Service
通过访谈21位美国公司董事，研究了兼任多个董事会的收益与成本，发现董事认可学习收益但低估工作负荷问题，并指出时间冲突和“忙碌表象”是重要约束。
SYNOPSIS We interview 21 U.S. company directors regarding the perceived benefits and costs of serving on multiple boards concurrently, leveraging the reputational and busyness perspectives on board service. Multiple concurrent board service provides directors with general and specific learning benefits that can carry across industries, reflecting the reputational perspective. The directors recognize but often downplay concerns with overall workload challenges; such costs are the focus of the busyness perspective. We extend the busyness perspective in two ways. First, we find evidence that scheduling challenges (e.g., overlapping board meetings) are a constraint on multiple board service. Thus, it is the timing of work that often is a constraint, not the amount of work. Second, we highlight the important role of “appearances” of busyness, with some directors noting efforts to avoid stakeholder scrutiny of their busyness, such as by “informally” serving on an audit committee or serving on private company boards.