Title: Boards of directors' roles and size: what effects on exploitative and exploratory innovations? Case of listed Tunisian firms

Authors: Sarra Berraies; Wajdi Ben Rejeb

Addresses: Department of Management and Human Resources, Institut Supérieur de Gestion de Tunis, Université de Tunis, Cité Bouchoucha, Le Bardo 2000, Tunisia ' Department of Social Sciences, Institut National des Sciences Appliquées et de Technologie, Université de Tunis, Centre Urbain Nord, 1080, Tunis, Tunisia

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of the size and the roles of the board of directors (BD) on two types of innovation namely exploitative and exploratory innovations. These relationships have been little explored in the literature, particularly in developing economies. Using a quantitative approach, an empirical study was conducted on a sample of 51 Tunisian listed companies. It revealed that exploratory innovation is promoted by BDs service role. The results also highlight that exploitative innovation is positively related to the BD's strategy role but negatively associated with BD's control role. The findings do not show a significant effect of BD's size on the two types of innovation. This research provides insights to companies looking to improve their corporate governance practices and develop a sustainable competitive advantage based on innovation.

Keywords: corporate governance; board of directors; board size; service role; control role; strategy role; exploitative innovation; exploratory innovation; Tunisian firms; multiple regression analysis; Tunisia.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEIM.2019.098148

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Management, 2019 Vol.23 No.2, pp.161 - 179

Received: 20 May 2016
Accepted: 12 Jun 2017
Published online: 05 Mar 2019 *

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