Boards of directors play a crucial role in shaping firm strategy, yet their advisory function remains underexplored. We analyze board meeting transcripts from an unbalanced panel to examine how directors' discussions of opportunities influence firm competitive behaviors. Drawing on the attention-based view, we propose that increased board opportunity discussion leads to increased competitive aggressiveness. Furthermore, we investigate the moderating role of CEO regulatory focus, finding that CEOs high in promotion focus amplify this relationship, while those high in prevention focus attenuate it. Our findings advance understanding of the board’s advisory role by highlighting how directors influence strategic outcomes and identifying conditions under which CEOs act on board recommendations. This study contributes to the corporate governance and strategic leadership literature by opening the ‘black box’ of board decision-making dynamics.
