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1 – 10 of over 1000Peter Kodjo Luh, Miriam Arthur, Vera Fiador and Baah Aye Aye Kusi
This study aims to examine how woman corporate leadership indicators and environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure in listed banks on Ghana Stock Exchange are related.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to examine how woman corporate leadership indicators and environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure in listed banks on Ghana Stock Exchange are related.
Design/methodology/approach
Data was obtained from the audited annual reports of the banks for the period 2006–2020. Empirical result estimation was achieved using Panel Corrected Standard Errors.
Findings
The result revealed that female chief executive officer (CEO), female board chairperson and board gender diversity are associated with higher disclosure of ESG issues in listed banks in Ghana in overall terms. However, in terms of individual disclosures, female board chairperson positively impacts social disclosure, whereas both female CEO and female board chairperson affect governance disclosure positively.
Research limitations/implications
In this era of business where there is much emphasis on green business and investment by various stakeholders for purposes of ensuring business legitimacy, the result implies that banks must consider females to occupy the positions of CEO and board chairperson since that can help to improve ESG performance of banks.
Practical implications
In this era of business where there is much emphasis on green business, socially responsible investment and impact investment by various stakeholders, the result implies that banks must consider improving the representation of women in leadership since that can help to improve ESG performance of banks and hence ability to attract more investors.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to provide empirical evidence from a developing country perspective in Sub-Saharan Africa that gender of bank leadership has implications for ESG disclosure.
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Isabel-Maria Garcia-Sanchez, Maria Victoria Uribe Bohorquez, Cristina Aibar-Guzmán and Beatriz Aibar-Guzmán
For almost half a century, society has been aware of the existence of a glass ceiling, a term that describes the invisible barriers that hinder women’s access to power positions…
Abstract
Purpose
For almost half a century, society has been aware of the existence of a glass ceiling, a term that describes the invisible barriers that hinder women’s access to power positions despite having equal or greater qualifications, skills and merits than their male counterparts. Nowadays, although there are signs of slow progress, women are still underrepresented in the upper echelons of large corporations and the risk of reversing the progress made in gender parity has increased because of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper contributes to previous literature by analysing the impact that the uncertainty and cognitive effects associated with COVID-19 in 2020 had on the presence of women on the board of directors and whether this impact has been moderated by the regulatory and policy system on gender quotas in place at the time.
Design/methodology/approach
To test the authors' research hypotheses, the authors selected the major global companies worldwide with economic-financial and non-financial information available in the Thomson Reuters EIKON database over the 2015–2020 period. As a result, the authors' final sample is made up of 1,761 companies from 52 countries with different institutional settings that constitute an unbalanced data panel of 8,963 observations. The nature of the dependent variables requires the use of logistic regressions. The models incorporate the terms to control for any unobservable heterogeneity and the error term. Any endogeneity issues were addressed by considering the explanatory variables with a time lag.
Findings
The authors find that almost 30% of the companies downsized their boards in 2020. This decision resulted in more female than male directors being made redundant, causing a reversal in the fulfilment of gender quotas focussed on ensuring balanced boards with a female presence of 40% or more. This effect was enhanced in countries with hard-law regulation because the penalty for non-compliance with gender quotas had led to a significant increase in the size of these bodies in previous years through the inclusion of the required number of female directors. In contrast, the reduction in board size in soft-law countries does not differ from that in laissez-faire countries, lacking any moderating effect or impact on the number of female board members dismissed as a result of the pandemic.
Originality/value
This paper aims to contribute to current knowledge by analysing the impact that the countries' regulatory and normative systems on gender parity on boards of directors have had on the decisions made in relation to leadership positions, moderating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender equality at a global level.
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Rohit Kumar Singh and Supran Kumar Sharma
The paper aims to craft a non-parametric composite value for the board quality of Indian banks where the weights can be assigned endogenously.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to craft a non-parametric composite value for the board quality of Indian banks where the weights can be assigned endogenously.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employed a non-parametric data envelopment analysis (DEA)-based novel extension known as the benefit of doubt approach. To measure the strength of the Indian bank corporate board in terms of board efficiency (BEF), the study used a mixed approach, i.e. first, the study calculates the percentile ranks of the five attributes that the study assumes are the characteristics of the strong board including board size, number of outside directors, frequency of meetings, non-duality leadership and board gender diversity. Thereafter, the study performs the benefit-to-doubt approach to finally measure the efficiency of the board.
Findings
The findings of the study establish that the methodological framework present in the study to measure the strength of the board in terms of BEF has been a much superior method over the other weighted and non-weighted linear average methods.
Practical implications
This methodology aids the shareholders, investors and regulatory bodies in rating the Indian banks based on their strength in terms of better monitoring boards and ensuring a smooth agent–owner relationship.
Originality/value
The benefit of doubt approach has been a unique and novel methodology to craft the composite value for any multidimensional phenomenon. One of the major benefits of using this approach is that it assigns the weights endogenously to each dimension and thereafter collectively determines the efficiency of such a phenomenon.
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Albert Ochien'g Abang'a and Venancio Tauringana
To investigate the impact of board characteristics (board gender diversity, board chair age, board subcommittees, board meetings, board skill, board size and board independence…
Abstract
Purpose
To investigate the impact of board characteristics (board gender diversity, board chair age, board subcommittees, board meetings, board skill, board size and board independence) on corporate social responsibility disclosures (CSRD) of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Kenya during the period 2015–2018.
Design/methodology/approach
The study employed fixed-effects balanced panel data to examine the impact of board characteristics on CSRD. The analysis is repeated using two regression estimators (robust least square and random effects) and the four CSRD subcomponents to evaluate the robustness of the main analysis.
Findings
The results established that board gender diversity, board chair age and board subcommittees had significant negative effects on CSRD. The impact of the remaining board characteristics was found to be insignificant.
Research limitations/implications
The study was limited to the disclosures included in the annual reports, which means that information disclosed in other media, like websites, was not considered. The second limitation concerns mediating and moderator variables that were not considered.
Practical implications
There is a need for a stricter corporate governance implementation mechanism, as opposed to the “comply or explain” principle, since results suggest that most of the board characteristics do not appear to be impactful. Additionally, the low level of reported CSRD calls for the establishment of Corporate Social Responsibility or related committees.
Social implications
The evidence suggests that SOEs are reluctant to report on issues such as ethics, health and safety initiatives, environment and social investments.
Originality/value
The paper extends the literature on the impact of board characteristics on CSRD in unlisted non-commercial SOEs in a developing country context.
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Alana Vandebeek, Wim Voordeckers, Jolien Huybrechts and Frank Lambrechts
The purpose of this study is to examine how informational faultlines on a board affect the management of knowledge owned by directors and the consequences on organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine how informational faultlines on a board affect the management of knowledge owned by directors and the consequences on organizational performance. In this study, informational faultlines are defined as hypothetical lines that divide a group into relatively homogeneous subgroups based on the alignment of several informational attributes among board members.
Design/methodology/approach
The study uses unique hand-collected panel data covering 7,247 board members at 106 publicly traded firms to provide strong support for the hypothesized U-shaped relationship. The authors use a fixed effects approach and a system generalized method of moments approach to test the hypothesis.
Findings
The study finds that the relationship between informational faultlines on a board and organizational performance is U shaped, with the least optimal organizational performance experienced when boards have moderate informational faultlines. More specifically, informational faultlines within boards are negatively related to organizational performance across the weak-to-moderate range of informational faultlines and positively related to organizational performance across the moderate-to-strong range.
Research limitations/implications
By explaining the mechanisms through which informational faultlines are related to organizational performance, the authors contribute to the literature in a number of ways. By conceptualizing how the management of knowledge plays an important role in the particular setting of corporate boards, the authors add not only to literature on knowledge management but also to the faultline and corporate governance literature.
Originality/value
This study offers a rationale for prior mixed findings by providing an alternative theoretical basis to explain the effect of informational faultlines within boards on organizational performance. To advance the field, the authors build on the concept of knowledge demonstrability to illuminate how informational faultlines affect the management of knowledge within boards, which will translate to organizational performance.
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Nafisah Yami, Jannine Poletti-Hughes and Khaled Hussainey
The authors motivate this research on the gender diversity of the board because of the recent increases in the number of women in top executive teams (Francis et al., 2015), which…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors motivate this research on the gender diversity of the board because of the recent increases in the number of women in top executive teams (Francis et al., 2015), which has probably been the result of the adoption of legislation for gender quotas as well as the establishment of corporate governance recommendations for gender diverse boards in several countries. The purpose of this study is to consider the quality of board directors when examining the effect of female directors on earnings management.
Design/methodology/approach
The analyses follow the system generalized method of moment to address endogeneity concerns (e.g. a board with higher quality is more likely to have female directors on board and vice versa). Besides the lags of the endogenous variables, the authors use the female industry ratio as an additional instrument (Liu et al., 2014), as female directors might be inspired by other female directors according to industrial sectors (measured by the two-digit industry codes), where competitors are likely to follow gender diversity practices of other firms within the same industrial sector.
Findings
The authors’ findings show a negative and significant association between board gender diversity and earnings management (EM), suggesting that independent female directors are the drivers of such effect. High-quality boards decrease the incidence of EM but hinder the potential involvement from female directors towards reducing EM. The incumbent effect of high-quality boards on female director’s contribution on EM reverses with less powerful CEOs.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to the extant literature by recognizing that the effectiveness of a female director on decreasing EM is a function of the environment in which decision-making takes place (i.e. board quality/powerful CEOs).
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Johann Valentowitsch, Michael Kindig and Wolfgang Burr
The effects of board composition on performance have long been discussed in management research using fractionalization measures. In this study, we propose an alternative…
Abstract
Purpose
The effects of board composition on performance have long been discussed in management research using fractionalization measures. In this study, we propose an alternative measurement approach based on board polarization.
Design/methodology/approach
Using an exploratory analysis and applying the polarization measure to German Deutscher Aktienindex (DAX)-, Midcap-DAX (MDAX)- and Small Cap-Index (SDAX)-listed companies, this paper applies the polarization index to examine the relationship between board diversity and performance.
Findings
The results show that the polarization concept is well suited to measure principal-agent problems between the members of the management and supervisory boards. We reveal that board polarization is negatively associated with firm performance, as measured by return on investment (ROI).
Originality/value
This exploratory study shows that the measurement of board polarization can be linked to performance differences between companies, which offers promising starting points for further research.
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Faraj Salman Alfawareh, Edie Erman Che Johari and Chai-Aun Ooi
This paper aims to investigate the effect of governance mechanisms and firm performance on chief executive officer (CEO) compensation in relation to the Jordanian business…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate the effect of governance mechanisms and firm performance on chief executive officer (CEO) compensation in relation to the Jordanian business environment. This study also examines the moderating role of gender diversity.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample is drawn from the annual reports of 68 Jordanian firms between 2015 and 2019. This paper uses the ordinary least square regression. It also uses the generalised method of moments approach to control any endogeneity issue and analyses the data in depth. In addition, it uses a dynamic model to address concerns regarding causality in the study’s models.
Findings
The results show that governance mechanisms and firm performance have an impact on CEO compensation. Furthermore, the outcomes indicate that gender diversity significantly and positively moderates the association between firm performance and CEO compensation. These findings enhance and support agency theory in the context of Jordan.
Practical implications
The study’s results have significant implications for policymakers, shareholders, investors, academicians and the public in the developing Jordanian market. The findings also support more monitoring and inspection to prevent the occurrence of opportunistic management behaviour and ensure that CEO remuneration packages are appropriately designed.
Originality/value
This study provides a unique understanding by explaining the impact of governance and performance on CEO compensation in a developing country such as Jordan. Besides that, the current study extends prior studies in Jordan significantly.
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Ari Budi Kristanto and June Cao
This systematic literature review presents the evolution of accounting-related research in the Indonesian context. We examine 55 academic articles from the initial 296 records of…
Abstract
Purpose
This systematic literature review presents the evolution of accounting-related research in the Indonesian context. We examine 55 academic articles from the initial 296 records of accounting and finance research in the Q1 Scopus-indexed journals from 1995 to 2022. This study sheds light on Indonesia’s main research streams, unique settings and urgent future research agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
This study adopts a systematic approach for a comprehensive literature review. We select articles according to a series of criteria and compile the metadata for the bibliographic mapping.
Findings
Our bibliometric analysis suggests five main research streams, namely (1) political connection, (2) capital market, (3) audit and accountability, (4) firm policy and (5) banking. We identify the following distinctive country settings, which are well discussed in extant literature: political connection, two-tier board system, weak accounting profession, information opacity and cultural impact on accounting. We outline prospective agendas to examine the institutional mechanisms’ role in addressing major environmental challenges through accountability.
Originality/value
This study offers unique contributions to the literature by comprehensively reviewing accounting-related research in Indonesia. Despite Indonesia’s economic and environmental importance, it has received limited attention from scholars. Using dynamic topic analysis, we highlight the need to examine the role of informal institutions, such as political connections and culture and formal institutional mechanisms, such as corporate governance and environmental disclosure.
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Ian Pepper, Carol Cox, Ruth Fee, Shane Horgan, Rod Jarman, Matthew Jones, Nicoletta Policek, Colin Rogers and Clive Tattum
The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) for Higher Education in the UK focuses on maintaining, enhancing and standardising the quality of higher education. Of significant impact are…
Abstract
Purpose
The Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) for Higher Education in the UK focuses on maintaining, enhancing and standardising the quality of higher education. Of significant impact are the development of subject benchmark statements (SBS) by the QAA, which describe the type and content of study along with the academic standards expected of graduates in specific disciplines. Prior to 2022, the QAA did not have a SBS to which higher education policing programmes could be directly aligned.
Design/methodology/approach
Over 12-months, a SBS advisory group with representatives from higher education across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, The College of Policing, QAA, Police Federation of England and Wales and policing, worked in partnership to harness their collective professional experience and knowledge to create the first UK SBS for policing. Post publication of the SBS, permission was sought and granted from both the College of Policing and QAA for members of the advisory group to reflect in an article on their experiences of collaborating and working in partnership to achieve the SBS.
Findings
There is great importance of creating a shared vision and mutual trust, developed through open facilitated discussions, with representatives championing their cause and developing a collaborative and partnership approach to completing the SBS.
Practical implications
A collaborative and partnership approach is essential in developing and recognising the academic discipline of policing. This necessarily requires the joint development of initiatives, one of which is the coming together of higher education institutions, PSRBs and practitioner groups to collaborate and design QAA benchmark statements.
Social implications
The SBS advisory group has further driven forward the emergence of policing as a recognised academic discipline to benefit multiple stakeholders.
Originality/value
The SBS for policing is the first across the UK. The authors experiences can be used to assist others in their developments of similar subject specific benchmarking or academic quality standards.
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