The influence of boards of directors on environmental disclosure

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to verify the influence of the characteristics of boards of directors on the level of environmental disclosure by Brazilian companies. The board is one of the main mechanisms of corporate governance and its characteristics can influence the level of environmental disclosure.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a sample of 152 companies listed on the São Paulo stock exchange, the BM&FBovespa. The level of environmental information was obtained by conducting a content analysis of company sustainability reports and websites. The generalized additive models based on negative binomial distribution were used to verify the influence of the characteristics of boards on environmental disclosure.FindingsThe results indicate that the number of independent board members had statistical significance, suggesting that board independence can improve the control of the administration and encourage greater environmental disclosure. The age variables showed that environmental disclosure increased on boards with average age up to 60 and then decreased.Originality/valueIt is expected that this study will contribute to the literature on corporate governance promotion by producing empiric data about the impacts of the characteristics of boards of directors on the level of environmental disclosure of companies that operate in a country with an emerging economy, Brazil. Another contribution may be related to the process of choosing board members because a board of directors must be composed of members with various characteristics to reduce the asymmetry of information and improve a company’s environmental disclosure policies.