| The board is considered to be an effective mechanism to solve agent problems caused by the separation of ownership and management. At the present stage, although the achievements of Board Governance are fairly abundant, the current studies are suffering from plenty of shortcomings in theories, research paradigms and methodologies (e.g. uniformity, formalization and fragmentation), which makes it difficult to open the "black box". While in practice, the passive board governance is turning the boards into the breeding ground for false financial statistics, insider trading and tunneling. Breaking the original framework of Neo-economics assumptions, this paper adopts pluralistic theories, including Agency Theory, Resource-based View, Upper echelon Theory and Relational Contract Theory. Meanwhile, the mediator (i.e. the intensity of duty performance) that explains how board formal and informal structural attributes are related to firm performance is deeply explored in a non-linear perspective. Theoretically, this study deeply investigates the informal structure which is formed by invisible interactions and dynamics among board members. Moreover, it introduces a new behavioral mediator to the original "Structure-Performance" model that is on the basis of linear relationship in order to analyze the no-linear mediating role of the Intensity of Duty Performance. Practically, this study is able to make contribution to self-evaluation for board governance as well as to the personnel selection for board composition.This paper combs through and gives brief comments on the existing literatures at home and abroad, and then puts forward17hypotheses accordingly. In a sample of5685firms that listed in the Shen Stock Exchange and Hu Stock Exchange in the period between2010and2012, the study conducts multiple regressions to test the linear and non-linear relationships between the independent variables and the mediator variable as well as that between the mediator variable and the dependent variable. In addition, drawing on the brand-new method raised by Hays&Preacher (2010), this paper uses SPSS macros named MEDCURVE to estimate the significance of the instantaneous indirect effect of X on Y through M, and then verifies the non-linear mediating role. It shows:(1) Both of Board Size and Average Age are related to the Intensity of Duty Performance negatively and logarithmically. Other structural characteristics are related to the Intensity of Duty Performance positively and linearly.(2) There is a negative and logarithmical relationship between the Intensity of Duty Performance and Firm Performance.(3) The Intensity of Duty Performance mediates non-linearly the relationship between these structural attributes (i.e. Board Size, The Outsider Ratio, The number of Committees, Age Diversity and Gender Diversity) and Firm Performance respectively.The main contribution of this study is:(1) Enriching the traditional research paradigm. By further exploring the mediating role of the Intensity of Duty Performance, it enables this study to obtain a better understanding of inner mechanism of board.(2) The explorations of the board’s invisible attribute. Regarding the board as a human group, this paper analyzes the dynamics in boardroom (e.g. mutual trusts, deference, influence etc.) and informal hierarchy which is generated by such dynamics consequently.(3) Testing the mediator variable in non-linear aspect. By using the empirical method proposed by Hayes he Preacher (2010), this paper tests the instantaneous indirect effect of board structural variables on Firm Performance through the Intensity of Duty Performance, which provides one of the new empirical method to find out the actual relationships between board structure and firm performance. |
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