Board Characteristics and Integrated Reporting Strategy: Does Sustainability Committee Matter?

Sustainability

Abdulwahid Ahmed Hashed¹  Sumaia Ayesh Qaderi²  Belal Ali Abdulraheem Ghaleb³  Sitraselvi Chandren⁴  Zaimah Abdullah⁴ 

[1] Department of Accounting, College of Business Administration, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj 16273, Saudi Arabia;Department of Accounting, College of Commerce and Economics, Hodeidah University, Hodeidah 9673, Yemen;Institute for Strategic and Sustainable Accounting Development (ISSAD), Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok 06010, Malaysia;Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok 06010, Malaysia;

关键词: integrated reporting;    board of directors;    sustainability committee;    agency theory;    resource dependency theory;    Malaysia;   

DOI  :  10.3390/su14106092

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Integrated reporting (IR) is the latest topic in corporate reporting that has raised interest in the disclosure literature. Although the board’s role in IR practice has received significant attention in developed countries, this effect is still unexamined in an emerging market like Malaysia. Thus, this study sought to fill this gap in the IR literature by investigating the impact of the board of directors’ characteristics on the quantity and quality of IR disclosure. The study also examined whether the existence of a sustainability committee affects the board-IR relationship. The study used all listed companies in Bursa Malaysia that applied IR strategy from 2017 to 2020 to test the hypotheses. It employed a content analysis technique to measure the quantity and quality of IR using an index with 100 items based on the International Integrated Reporting Council guidelines. Multivariate ordinary least squares (OLS) regression was applied to examine these relationships. The analysis showed that board size, independence, gender diversity, and non-executive remuneration were positively and significantly related to greater IR disclosure, suggesting that the board of directors has a monitoring role in reducing agency problems and protecting stakeholders’ interests. However, multiple directorships did not affect IR disclosure. The analysis also showed that the presence of a sustainability committee positively affected IR disclosure, and had a moderating effect on the board-IR disclosure relationship. Our result was robust to alternative measures of the corporate board and an alternative regression model. This study is among the first to provide empirical evidence of the board and sustainability committee’s significant role in enhancing IR strategy. The findings may benefit regulatory bodies, policymakers, company managers, investors, and researchers in better understanding how directors’ characteristics influence companies’ IR practices.

【 授权许可】

Unknown