The Impact of Board Monitoring and Involvement on Top Management Team Affective Conflict

Crises in corporate accountability have prompted calls for boards of directors to monitor (i.e., oversee) top management teams (TMTs) more closely and become more involved in strategic decision making. Research on board processes has focused largely on the benefits of these board behaviors, with little attention paid to possible negative consequences. This study addresses that gap by examining the impact of board monitoring and involvement on affective conflict within the top management team. We find that board montoring and involvement interact with TMT power such that more powerful teams suffer less affective conflict when the board monitors their activities, but greater affective conflict when the board becomes involved in the firm's strategic decision-making process.