Individual Perceptions of Value and Value Creation: The Human Side of the Board of Directors of the Entrepreneurial Growth Company

The curtains to the boardroom are opening, and the walls of its so-called black box are slowly becoming more transparent. Recent research is revealing how human behaviors and dynamics affect board work, and the micro-level perspectives are demanding more of our attention. Contributing to that expanding body of research, this dissertation generates insights on how board members bring their individual and personal approaches, frames of reference and worldview to any board situation. Exploring and voicing various perceptions contributes to further understanding what board members do, think they are expected to do, and how they think, feel and act.

An explorative approach between the scientific knowledge and practitioner perceptions brings out the profound and ongoing transformations in ways of doing business. This creates a need to broaden our views of value and value creation, both in research and practice. Particularly, board members of the more entrepreneurial companies reveal diverse and ample ways to conceptualize and act on value and value creation. The data illustrate, for example, that while one person immerses themselves in a company’s dream, and questions conformity as a driver for new value creation, another bases their value creation on purpose-driven and conscious behavioral choices. Collaborative connections signify empowerment and value creation for one. Yet another relies on conventional practices and carefully sustained boundaries as the glue to facilitate new value creation. The four vignettes presented in this research speak to a continuous need to re-focus, re-think and re-evaluate value and value creation.

I conducted this research at the intersection of academia and practice, perspectives that both question and complement each other. One aim is to demonstrate the importance and benefits of reflective interaction. Of equal significance, I argue for the benefits of building a bridge between the existing research and encounters and experiences from the practitioner world. I invite the reader to reflect on the puzzle of the human side of the board of directors and value creation, how we can create more value by accepting and better understanding each other’s views and underlying concepts of value and value creation. This will allow more diversified notions of value creation to surface.