Title: Corporate governance and environmental social and governance disclosures: evidence from the Asia-Pacific countries

Authors: Monika Dhochak; Abhishek Ranga; Prince Doliya

Addresses: Indian Institute of Management Visakhapatnam, Gambheeram Village, Visakhapatnam – 531 163, Andhra Pradesh, India ' Goa Institute of Management, Sanquelim Campus, Goa – 403505, India ' Indian Institute of Management Visakhapatnam, Gambheeram Village, Visakhapatnam – 531 163, Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract: The objective of the study is to examine the impact of corporate governance parameters on the quality of environmental, social and governance (ESG) indicators for the Asia-Pacific countries. For this purpose, we have used the quality of ESG disclosures as dependent variable and board gender diversity, independent directors, CEO duality and board size as independent variables along with the firm-level and country-level control variables. The empirical analysis is based on the five-year panel data collected from the Refinitiv Eikon database for the Asia-pacific companies from the year 2016 to 2020. The findings of the study suggest that board gender diversity and independent directors have a positive and significant effect on the ESG disclosures, while the CEO duality has a significant and negative impact. The findings also suggest that independent and female board members bring transparency and instigate more social and environmental initiatives, which results in the transmission of the firm's positive image.

Keywords: ESG disclosures; corporate governance; board composition; board characteristics; Asia-pacific countries; environmental; social and governance.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCG.2024.139765

International Journal of Corporate Governance, 2024 Vol.14 No.3, pp.189 - 211

Received: 22 May 2023
Accepted: 02 Nov 2023
Published online: 05 Jul 2024 *

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