Impact of Board Committee Characteristics on Social Sustainability Reporting in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Moderating Role of Institutional Ownership

Marshall Wellington Blay, Prosper Kweku Hoeyi, Ebenezer Agyemang Badu and Abdul Bashiru Jibril ()
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Marshall Wellington Blay: Faculty of Management Sciences, Department of Entrepreneurial Studies and Management, Durban University of Technology, Durban 4001, South Africa
Prosper Kweku Hoeyi: Department of Business Support Studies, Central University of Technology, Bloemfontein 9301, South Africa
Ebenezer Agyemang Badu: Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension Education, Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training & Entrepreneurial Development, Asante-Mampong P.O. Box 40, Ghana
Abdul Bashiru Jibril: School of Management and Economics, University of Kurdistan Hewlêr, 30 Metre Avenue, Erbil 44001, Iraq

JRFM, 2024, vol. 17, issue 7, 1-21

Abstract: The corporate strategic planning of businesses in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) largely focuses on immediate financial performance with minimal credence to social sustainability. Thus, studies on the linkage between corporate governance (CG) and sustainability reporting have focused on developed economies. This study therefore investigated the role of institutional ownership in the impact of board committee characteristics on social sustainability reporting. This study involved strongly balanced panel data with 1969 observations of 275 publicly listed non-financial firms in SSA within the timeframe of 2012 to 2021. Data were analyzed using STATA 14.1. The hypotheses were tested using the two-step system of the generalized method of moment (GMM) using the Arellano–Bond dynamic panel data estimation method. The rate of social sustainability reporting was 39.4%. Relatively, Mauritian and South African firms had the most effective board committee characteristics and higher levels of social sustainability reporting. Although institutional ownership had no significant effect on social sustainability reporting, it moderated the effect of sustainability committee independence and sustainability committee gender diversity on social sustainability reporting. This paper presents a new perspective on the corporate governance and social sustainability literature by examining the effect of institutional ownership on board committee characteristics and social sustainability reporting in SSA. In terms of policy implication, there is the need for mandatory regulatory and legal CG framework that is regularly updated at national and regional levels in SSA to motivate listed firms to establish sustainability committees with efficient characteristics to promote social sustainability reporting.

Keywords: corporate governance; board committee; social sustainability reporting; sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C E F2 F3 G (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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