Determinants, mechanisms and consequences of corporate governance reporting: a research framework

Abstract

Corporate governance disclosures form a key part of a company’s non-financial reporting. Several studies consider the determinants of corporate governance reporting, including external factors such as country-specific legislation and scandals, and internal factors such as financial performance, size and culture. Others consider the consequences of corporate governance reporting, using simple proxies for corporate governance mechanisms such as board composition characteristics to analyse the impact on financial reporting quality and company valuation. Yet the determinants and consequences of corporate governance reporting may be interlinked, and many quantitative studies fail to consider these links and their multiple effects adequately. Poor financial performance, for example, can be both a determinant and a consequence of the underlying governance mechanisms that corporate governance reporting aims to capture. The framework provided in this paper considers both the determinants and consequences of corporate governance and likely links between them, and also considers internal corporate governance mechanisms and the measures that are used as their proxies. In combining these three aspects of corporate governance and showing potential links, the framework offers insights into future research opportunities. The framework can be adapted to any country or organisational setting and also offers the opportunity to consider theories other than agency theory when studying corporate governance disclosures.