This paper presents a novel shear deformation theory for analyzing porous microbeams’ bending, buckling, and free vibration resting on a foundation. The proposed shear function incorporating three kinetic variables satisfies zero-traction boundary conditions on the top and bottom surfaces of the beams and does not require a shear correction factor. The modified couple stress theory accounts for the size-dependent effects, and the governing equations are derived from Lagrange’s equation using the proposed shear function. Legendre–Ritz functions are developed to analyze the porous microbeams’ buckling, free vibration, and bending behaviors. The effects of material length scale parameter, porosity, span-to-height ratio, boundary condition, and foundation parameter on the mechanical responses of beams are investigated. Numerical results demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed theory and can serve as benchmarks for future analysis of porous microbeams on elastic foundations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]