The impact of board gender diversity on ESG disclosure. A contingency perspective

Giovanna Gavana, Pietro Gottardo and Anna Maria Moisello

Meditari Accountancy Research, 2024, vol. 33, issue 7, 1-29

Abstract: Purpose - This paper aims to study how corporate governance and country-related contextual factors affect the relationship between board gender diversity and environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure in its components: governance, social and environmental. Design/methodology/approach - Using ordinary least-squares and two-stage least squares (2SLS) regressions, and retrieving ESG disclosure data from Bloomberg’s database, the paper analyses a sample of European nonfinancial listed firms (1,935 firm-year observations) over the period 2014–2022. The study adopts board independence and board cultural diversity as structural and demographic board attributes that characterize the corporate governance environment in which female directors operate; the enforcement of law and gender equality as country-related institutional and cultural factors. Findings - Results suggest that female directors may substitute board independence in improving ESG and governance disclosure, whilst they co-occur with board cultural diversity in increasing ESG, governance and social disclosure. Findings indicate that the enforcement of law increases the positive effect of female directors on environmental disclosure and lowers the impact on governance disclosure. Conversely, a more gender-equal environment enhances female directors’ engagement in improving governance disclosure, reducing their beneficial effect on environmental information. Originality/value - This study contributes to the literature suggesting that structural and other demographic board contextual aspects, as well as institutional and cultural country-related contextual factors, affect the relationship between board gender diversity and ESG disclosure differently and the effect may vary depending on ESG disclosure.

Keywords: ESG disclosure; Environmental disclosure; Social disclosure; Governance disclosure; Board gender diversity; Board diversity; Contextual factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:medarp:medar-07-2024-2567

DOI: 10.1108/MEDAR-07-2024-2567

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