The role of board leadership in deliberating international entry

Abstract

The current study addresses the formal and informal board leadership roles in new high-tech firms. Overall, we find that board leadership affects international engagements in idiosyncratic ways. Initially, we conjectured that the board leadership role structure would influence time to new markets, but the leadership role structure fails to do so, which indicates that neither a divided board leadership structure nor a dual board leadership structure matters. Instead, we find that the facilitating role of board chair leadership does. Although board chair leadership efficacy has a deliberating effect, we find it to have an interactive effect with a more resourceful board, indicating that efficacious leadership is more important than we typically would expect. Noteworthy, these dynamic interactions not only contribute to advancing new high-tech firms, but also contribute to shaping a resilient high-tech entrepreneurial ecosystem from within.