Purpose

Despite indications of scholarly interest, there are still gaps in the research of the concept of felt accountability, especially the felt accountability of board members. This paper aims to clarify the sources of accountability experienced by board members. Especially those in a non-executive capacity. How these sources can be accessed to enhance felt accountability and thereby governance effectiveness is explored.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative, exploratory research methods were used. In total, 15 semi-structured, in-depth interviews were completed with non-executive board members of Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed companies in South Africa. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse data.

Findings

The findings clarified the formal and informal sources of accountability experienced by non-executive board members. This included relational and structural mechanisms that can be used within corporate governance to enhance both types of accountability. Accessing the identified sources of accountability through appropriate mechanisms could increase the levels of felt accountability experienced by the individual non-executive board member, thereby strengthening accountability inside the boardroom and improving overall board effectiveness. The study also revealed a layer of implicit and explicit accountability.

Research limitations/implications

The study was conducted solely in South Africa, with non-executive board members of Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed companies.

Originality/value

There is limited research that clarifies the sources of accountability experienced by non-executive board members. This study aims to address this gap in the literature by providing techniques on how to enable the clarified sources of accountability to improve governance effectiveness.

中文翻译：

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董事会内部问责制的来源

目的

尽管有学术兴趣的迹象，但对感觉问责制概念的研究仍然存在差距，特别是董事会成员的感觉问责制。本文旨在澄清董事会成员所经历的问责制的来源。尤其是那些具有非执行能力的人。探讨了如何访问这些资源以增强有意识的问责制，从而探索治理有效性。

设计/方法/方法

使用了定性的、探索性的研究方法。总共对南非约翰内斯堡证券交易所上市公司的非执行董事会成员进行了 15 次半结构化的深度访谈。使用主题内容分析来分析数据。

发现

调查结果澄清了非执行董事会成员所经历的正式和非正式的问责来源。这包括可以在公司治理中使用的关系和结构机制，以加强这两种类型的问责制。通过适当的机制访问已确定的问责来源可以提高个别非执行董事会成员感受到的问责水平，从而加强董事会内部的问责制并提高整体董事会效率。该研究还揭示了一层隐性和显性的问责制。

研究限制/影响

该研究仅在南非进行，由约翰内斯堡证券交易所上市公司的非执行董事会成员参与。

原创性/价值

阐明非执行董事会成员所经历的责任来源的研究有限。本研究旨在通过提供有关如何使问责制的明确来源提高治理有效性的技术来解决文献中的这一差距。