Board Diversity and Environmental Disclosure: A Review, Current Insights, and Emerging Trends

Bikun Xu (), Noriza Mohd Jamal, Yue Liu and Taher Ben Yahya
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Bikun Xu: Faculty of Management, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Skudai Johor 81310, Malaysia
Noriza Mohd Jamal: Faculty of Management, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Skudai Johor 81310, Malaysia
Yue Liu: Faculty of Management, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Skudai Johor 81310, Malaysia
Taher Ben Yahya: Faculty of Management, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Skudai Johor 81310, Malaysia

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 3, 1-21

Abstract: As the challenges of environmentally friendly development continue to intensify, the governance mechanisms of environmental disclosure have become particularly important. Although studies have explored the governance determinants of environmental disclosure, there is a lack of a comprehensive overview in the existing literature that addresses board diversity. To fill this gap, this study provides an in-depth analysis of board diversity that promotes environmental disclosure by systematically reviewing 74 relevant papers from the Scopus database. In addition to utilizing qualitative content analysis based on a systematic literature review, this study distinguishes and identifies board diversity factors influencing environmental disclosure through quantitative bibliometric analysis using a descriptive analysis. The results not only summarize the key findings of the existing literature but also suggest directions for future research, providing new perspectives that could aid in understanding and improving board diversity in environmental disclosure. Furthermore, this study identifies a number of challenges in practice, such as the difficulties that may be encountered in collecting and validating accurate environmental data. The study highlights the importance of board diversity for better environmental disclosure and suggests future research directions. Policymakers and management are urged to promote board diversity to improve environmental disclosure, which can enhance a company’s performance and societal value.

Keywords: board diversity; environmental disclosure; environmental sustainability; systematic literature review; content analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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