A Theoretical Framework for Several Antecedents of Shared Leadership in Corporate Board Contexts

Due to the gap in understanding board leadership and specifically, board shared leadership, this article aims at proposing some antecedents of the emergence of board shared leadership. This article incorporates three bodies of literature: Team effectiveness, team leadership, and board management. Based on integrating several theoretical perspectives, nine propositions are developed in relation to well-known board inputs, such as board size, leadership structure, board diversity, and the ratio of insiders/outsiders. It is suggested that CEO duality and firm size have negative relationships with level of shared leadership in boards while board members’ stock ownership, membership of women in board, board members’ average expertise and experience, and board members’ background diversity foster board shared leadership. It is also proposed that board size, the ratio of insiders/outsiders, and board members’ power vis-à-vis CEO power have non-linear relationships with board shared leadership.