What motivates board members to serve?
I was recently asked to facilitate a vision planning board of directors retreat in Colorado. The nonprofit has 13 board members, including two new members after the first rotation from the founding board since the organization's launch five years ago.
In preparation for my board retreat, I've researched motivation theory as a basis to understand why non-executive board (NED) members serve.
The motivation of serving as a NED reflects both intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Thus, proposing a steward theory (intrinsic) reflects a contribution of a strong relationship between satisfaction and organizational success. In comparison, agency theory (extrinsic) reflects the principles that determine the work and rely on agents as managers who do the job. Though these theories reflect a parallel of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation though may be viewed as the bi-polar, thus an incomplete view.
Self-determination theory reflects continuous controlled and autonomous motivations holding pressure or tension of both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Early research on intrinsic motivation related to self-determination (SDT) highlights the benefit of autonomy, competence, and relatedness compared to controlled motivation toward accomplishing goals (O'Hara, 2017). In a gateway, the study included 54 NEDS results in 369 codable moments from the interviews. Regarding controlled motivations, 278 coded external regulators reveal the reasons for either reward, market-level compensation, or reputation from status or prestige from being on the board. Autonomous motivation revealed opportunities for learning, development, and contribution of expertise to benefit the organization.
Tenure on board revealed self-identification with a mission for good. Finally, motivations were satisfied in connection, shared passion, and fun as a fellow board member. The case study concluded that motivation as a NED is sourced from material incentives, reputation, meaningfulness, congruence with firm goals, and enjoyment. The result of the case study revealed a person-centered approach to determining controlled-autonomous and controlled motivations needs of board member engagement (Walther et al., 2017).
A holistic approach to understanding NED motivation may inform further research based on the types of boards and the organization's purpose. Further understanding the person-centered approach reveals differences in what motivates individuals, reflecting the strength and success of boards based on their member's diversity.
Reference
O'Hara, D. (2017). The intrinsic motivation of Richard Ryan and Edward Deci. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/members/content/intrinsic-motivation
Walther, A., Möltner, H., & Morner, M. (2017). Non-executive director's motivation to continue serving on boards: A self-determination theory perspective. Corporate Governance (Bradford), 17(1), 64-76. https://10.1108/CG-05-2016-0120