Corporate governance mechanisms and the quality of sustainability reporting – results from a systematic literature review

Abstract

Purpose: The article investigates the extent to which corporate governance mechanisms have been researched in the context of sustainability reporting quality, given the lack of a standardized non-financial reporting framework and the use of different reporting guidelines by companies.Methodology/approach: We conducted a systematic review of the literature, which included 20 publications carefully selected from 881 publications extracted from the EBSCO database and Google Scholar.Findings: The literature review identified the impact of key corporate governance instruments/mechanisms/attributes on the quality of reporting disclosures, mainly in the area of social responsibility and, to a lesser extent, (developing) sustainability reporting. The results were analyzed geographically, culturally and contextually, with a primary focus on listed companies. Research limitations/implications: The literature review was limited to two databases and academic articles in English and Polish.Originality/value: This is one of the first studies to document the state of research to date on the quality of sustainability disclosures in conjunction with corporate governance.