Sustained or Not: Does Intellectual Capital Strengthen CEOs and Independent Commissioners on the Sustainability of Their Companies?

Abstract

This research aims to investigate the relationship between CEO characteristics in the form of educational background and independent commissioners on sustainability reports with intellectual capital as a moderating variable. The population selected in this study were non-financial companies included in the LQ45 index for the 2018-2022 period, and 12 samples were selected based on the purposive sampling method. For the hypothetical analysis in this research, panel data regression analysis and moderate regression analysis (MRA) with Eviews 12 were used. This research shows that the characteristics of the CEO and independent commissioners have a simultaneous and partial effect on sustainability reports. However, CEO characteristics that are moderated by intellectual capital have a negative influence on the sustainability report. In contrast, independent commissioners positively influence the sustainability report after being moderated by intellectual capital. This research contributes to the application of stakeholder theory, resource-based theory, and agency theory. The novelty of this study is the empirical finding that CEO characteristics and independent commissioners can encourage the sustainability report. However, the moderated effects of intellectual capital differ for both CEO characteristics and independent commissioners on sustainability reports. This research also has several implications for shareholders and stakeholders; one of them is for investors that companies with CEOs with economic and business educational backgrounds and a high proportion of independent commissioners have a sustainable business strategy that can serve as an indicator for long-term investment.
 Keywords: characteristic CEO, independent commissioner, intellectual capital, sustainability report