資源依賴理論主張董事會成員能提供組織專業知識與經驗，改善決策品質與提昇經營績效。儘管此理論已廣受學術研究注意且支持，然而，實證上直接連結董事經驗與組織策略成效的關聯性研究相對缺乏，本研究以跨國併購此一重要董事參與之決策為研究議題，系統性的探討董事經驗對於企業之跨國併購決策所能產生的利益。本研究檢視的董事經驗價值來源有二，分別為董事廣泛的國際併購經驗，以及併購標的所在之目標國家併購經驗；此外，本研究亦探討董事併購經驗的效益是否受到特定情境因素之影響，包括主併公司本身是否具備國際併購經驗，以及主併公司與目標公司之間的文化距離大小，在研究方法上則同時衡量短期宣告效果與併購後的長期營運績效改變，以求得穩健之研究發現。實證結果大致支持主要假說，肯定董事經驗在企業之國際併購決策上的重要性，此研究發現為「董事資源有效性」此一重要命題提供了直接的實證證據。

Resource dependency theory postulates that boards of directors with
experiential expertise and informed knowledge can provide intelligent insights and pertinent information to improve the quality of decision making on the part of firms. While this argument has received great theoretical attention and acceptance, the direct link between board experience and outcomes of corporate strategies has been scarcely examined. With the findings from firms’ investments in international acquisitions, this study contributes to the literature on board effectiveness by systematically investigating how the directors’ experience, and resulting expertise, influence the outcomes of a firm’s strategic initiatives. The result shows both directors’ experience garnered in international acquisitions in general, and those specifically related to the target firm’s country, can significantly improve a firm’s acquisition performance. Besides, both the acquiring firms’ cultural distance from the target firms, and their own acquisition experience, significantly moderate the contingent value of board experience. Both short term announcement effects and
long run operating performance are assessed to derive robust findings.