Let's Hear It from the Board...: An analysis of regional development governance in Western Australia and New South Wales

Abstract

This research examines how board members of regional development agencies in Australia interpret and perform their governance role, and considers what this tells us about the nature of regional development governance. With no previous research into these women and men who accept appointment onto these boards, the board experience has been uncharted and board members invisible in their roles. This research focuses on the boards of state government funded regional development agencies in two states, New South Wales (NSW) and Western Australia (WA). Board members of these agencies are ministerial appointees. Six boards were identified on the basis of geographically dispersed locations, three boards in each state. Fifty-three board members were interviewed (twenty-one women and thirty-two men) from these selected boards in primarily face to face, semi-structured interviews which allowed for issues to be explored during the interview. This research uses grounded theory to analyse the way in which board members describe their boardroom experience and board role to reveal patterns and variations in the way in which regional development governance is practiced.