The board as a guide for learning in growing SMEs

Tom Liljeström, Tuuli Ikäheimonen and Timo Pihkala

Journal of Small Business Management, 2025, vol. 63, issue 1, 279-305

Abstract: This article aims to explore how a company’s board guides learning by connecting active owners, the board, and the management. We suggest that board-guided learning practices connecting the owners, the board, and the management can be vital for growth-oriented companies facing the challenges of success with limited resources. We draw on a qualitative study of 11 Finnish SMEs and employ learning theory taken further by opening the microfoundations of learning between the company’s board and individual owners, board members, and management. We created a framework showing how the board acts by guiding the learning practices, participation in them, and the temporality of the practices at board meetings. Learning not only happens when people meet, but the company’s board can create practices to enhance learning. The study advances learning theory by giving a more granulated picture of the microfoundations of learning between owners, the board, and management.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/00472778.2024.2317168

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