This study investigates the board of directors’ contribution to opportunity development in high-tech ventures. Based on the dynamic managerial capabilities perspective, we argue that more experienced boards will contribute more to opportunity development. Furthermore, building on the attention-based view, we argue that this effect will be moderated by structural and situational factors that affect board members’ attention to the venture’s opportunity development process. Using hand-collected data on 179 high-tech ventures in Belgium, we find that board experience has a stronger relationship with the board’s contribution to opportunity development when board size decreases, when board tenure increases and when the venture underperforms. These findings offer a contribution to the literature on opportunity development in new ventures and to research on the boards of directors’ role in new ventures. They also have important implications for entrepreneurs who are trying to develop opportunities and their stakeholders.

Plain English summary While experienced board members have the potential to contribute to opportunity development in high-tech ventures, they often refrain from leveraging this experience due to the structure of the board and the situation of the venture. When high-tech ventures try to develop new opportunities, they mostly rely on the experience of the top management team. As this could limit the range of opportunities they see, bringing in experienced board members may seem a fruitful way of getting new information and a broader perspective. This study indeed shows that, in the context of high-tech ventures, more experienced boards can contribute more to opportunity development. However, even if board members have relevant experience, they are not always motivated to use this experience to the benefit of the venture. In fact, they are less likely to leverage their experience when boards are bigger in size, when board members have spent less time sitting together on the board, and when the venture performs better. The implication of this study is that high-tech ventures should be aware that board members can potentially contribute to opportunity development, but that their actual contribution depends on structural and situational factors that direct board members’ attention to opportunity development.

这项研究调查了董事会对高科技企业机会发展的贡献。基于动态管理能力的观点，我们认为经验丰富的董事会将为机会发展做出更大的贡献。此外，基于基于关注的观点，我们认为这种影响将由影响董事会成员对合资企业机会发展过程的关注的结构和情况因素来缓和。使用有关比利时179家高科技企业的手工收集的数据，我们发现，当董事会规模减小，董事会任期增加以及合资企业表现不佳时，董事会经验与董事会对机会发展的贡献之间存在更紧密的关系。这些发现为有关新企业中机会发展的文献和对董事会在新企业中的作用进行研究做出了贡献。对于试图发展机会的企业家及其利益相关者，它们也具有重要的意义。

普通英语摘要尽管经验丰富的董事会成员有潜力为高科技企业的机会发展做出贡献，但由于董事会的结构和企业的状况，他们经常不利用这种经验。当高科技企业尝试开发新机会时，它们主要依靠高层管理团队的经验。由于这可能会限制他们看到的机会范围，因此聘请经验丰富的董事会成员似乎是获取新信息和更广阔视野的有效方式。这项研究确实表明，在高科技企业的背景下，经验丰富的董事会可以为机会发展做出更大的贡献。但是，即使董事会成员具有相关经验，他们也不一定总是有动力利用这种经验来使企业受益。实际上，当董事会规模更大，董事会成员花在董事会上的时间更少，合资企业表现更好时，他们不太可能利用自己的经验。这项研究的意义在于，高科技企业应该意识到董事会成员可以为机会发展做出潜在的贡献，但是他们的实际贡献取决于指导董事会成员注意机会发展的结构和情况因素。