Triggering politicized boards to talk about strategy : how strategic plan and performance information use impact strategic discussions.

Boards, the apex of legal authority in organizations, have an important governance monitoring responsibility which requires them to process strategic information, and to collectively engage in strategic discussions to be effective. Although strategic plans and performance information can be considered pivotal information sources to execute monitoring tasks, empirical evidence is lacking on if and how their reported use impacts strategic discussions in governing boards. To address this omission, this study uses data from 444 councilors of 154 boards of Public Centers for Social Welfare in Belgium to analyze (1) the extent to which strategic plans and performance information are used, (2) the relationship between strategic plan and performance information use and the degree of strategic discussions, and (3) how these relationships are mediated by governing boards’ perceived ability to contribute. Results indicate that solely the purposeful use of performance information meets expectations, opening the discussion on the role of strategic plans.Boards, the apex of legal authority in organizations, have an important governance monitoring responsibility which requires them to process strategic information, and to collectively engage in strategic discussions to be effective. Although strategic plans and performance information can be considered pivotal information sources to execute monitoring tasks, empirical evidence is lacking on if and how their reported use impacts strategic discussions in governing boards. To address this omission, this study uses data from 444 councilors of 154 boards of Public Centers for Social Welfare in Belgium to analyze (1) the extent to which strategic plans and performance information are used, (2) the relationship between strategic plan and performance information use and the degree of strategic discussions, and (3) how these relationships are mediated by governing boards’ perceived ability to contribute. Results indicate that solely the purposeful use of performance information meets expectations, opening the discussion on the role of strategic plans.C