This study examines the role of Board attributes through the influence of board composition, Board heterogeneity, Directors’ industry specific expertise and Directors’ nominating practices on board ability to positively affect acquisition success. We argue that the presence of Outside Non-Executive (NED) Directors on the board is not linearly related to firm performance, and that the mixed results of extent research could be likely due to the existence of a curvilinear relationship. As for Boards relying on effective and transparent nomination and selection practices, we hypothesized that they will positively contribute to Acquisitions success. Furthermore, we consider that Directors’ expertise in the acquirer’s related industries would positively predict successful M&A operations. Integrating insights from the agency theory, the rational economic perspective of directors selection and the Board human capital perspective, our findings support the hypotheses related to the rational economic and board human capital perspectives and show that Boards with appropriate Nominating committees and transparent nomination practices tied to firm long-term goals and strategy, composed by directors with heterogeneous occupational backgrounds and higher industry expertise relatively to their management teams are more likely to positively predict the probability of making successful acquisitions. Furthermore, our findings indicate that there is a convex downward relationship between board composition and the likelihood of making successful acquisitions, which could explain the highly inconclusive results reported by the mainstream research on corporate governance.
