Board of directors and innovation: A state-of-the-art review from a contingency perspective

Abstract

The link between the board of directors and innovation has received increasing interest from scholars, executives, and policymakers in recent years. Nevertheless, it remains somewhat cryptic, mainly due to limitations in terms of analytical frameworks, theoretical constructs, and methodological designs, as well as the absence of an approach that integrates the importance of contingencies. Thus, a systematic literature review at the junction of the highest strategic body (i.e., board of directors) and one of the most strategic organizational outcomes (i.e., innovation) proves to be an opportune exercise both from a scientific and practical perspective. Ultimately, the approach adopted in this study has led to the emergence of an integrative conceptual framework from a contingency perspective and various observations that dissect the impact of the board of directors on innovation based on a corpus of 114 articles published over a period of 33 years. Also, a research agenda and some key recommendations are derived from the in-depth analysis conducted and constitute solid foundations on which to build tomorrow's studies in this research field.