Effects of Task Conflict on Board Task Performance in Family Firms: The Importance of Board Openness

Abstract While boards of directors play a critical role in the formulation of strategic actions of family firms, up-to-date research examining the antecedents of boards’ influence on strategic decisions remains limited. This study examines whether and how boards’ task conflict impacts boards’ control and advisory tasks, as well as to what extent these relationships vary with different degrees of boards’ openness. Our main hypotheses are tested on a sample of 94 family firms from Norway. Our main findings confirm the complex and context-sensitive nature of conflicts in the context of family firms’ boards of directors. In particular, we advance the debate by suggesting that task conflict benefits both boards’ control and advisory tasks only when boards function in an atmosphere of openness.