Abstract
How do board members in new ventures interpret and enact their governance roles under conditions of uncertainty? Prior research on venture boards has largely conceptualized board roles through predefined functional categories, such as monitoring, resource provision, and strategic advising, while giving limited attention to how individual board members themselves make sense of what it means to govern entrepreneurial firms. Drawing on a qualitative study of 40 interviews with board members and CEOs across six deep-tech life science ventures, we develop an interpretive, cognitively grounded account of how board members make sense of their governance roles under uncertainty. We introduce the concept of role mindsets—recurring cognitive frameworks through which board members interpret their responsibilities and determine appropriate forms of engagement. Our analysis identifies two role mindsets, dynamic and anchored, shaped by configurations of thinking disposition, motivation, role perception, and engagement logic. We further show how board members navigate interpretive tensions—intra-individual, peer-evaluative, and context-specific—that prompt ongoing recalibration of role understanding. By conceptualizing venture governance as an interpretive accomplishment rather than a set of fixed role prescriptions, this study advances research on the cognitive micro-foundations of board governance in entrepreneurial settings.