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Companies, politicians, the mass media, legislators, scholars and society in general have shown a growing interest in how board gender diversity affects a firm’s decisions. This concept has been developed because some nations have introduced voluntary policies to regulate and increase the proportion of female directors on corporate boards. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to review previous research based on board gender diversity as a corporate governance mechanism and its effect on some firms’ business decisions: financial reporting quality (FRQ), firm performance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting.

The authors focus on the agency and stakeholder theory to examine the link between female directors on boards and FRQ, CSR disclosure and firm performance.

This review provides researchers a structure that can identify the benefits and disadvantages of including female directors on boards regarding three particular corporate outcomes (FRQ, firm performance and CSR reporting).

This study provides a review of past literature on firm performance, CSR disclosure and FRQ from 1975 to 2017, and it contributes to past research by giving a broad overview of the main results of the association between female board directors and corporate decisions. The findings have implications for governments, academics and company managers.

Las empresas, los políticos, los medios de comunicación, los legisladores, los investigadores y la sociedad, en general, han incrementado su interés en cómo la diversidad de género de los Consejos de Administración impacta en las decisiones empresariales. El concepto de diversidad de género en los Consejos ha sido desarrollado porque algunos países han implementado políticas voluntarias para regular e incrementar la proporción de mujeres consejeras en los Consejos de Administración de las empresas. Por tanto, el objetivo de este trabajo es revisar la literatura previa que se ha centrado en analizar la diversidad de género del Consejo de Administración como mecanismo de buen gobierno corporativo y su efecto en algunas decisiones empresariales: calidad de la información financiera, desempeño empresarial y divulgación de información sobre la responsabilidad social corporativa.

Para examinar la relación entre la presencia de mujeres consejeras en los Consejos de Administración y la calidad de la información financiera, la divulgación de información sobre la responsabilidad social empresarial y el desempeño empresarial nos hemos basado en la teoría de la agencia y la de los stakeholders.

Esta revisión de la literatura previa proporciona a los investigadores una sólida estructura para que puedan identificar las ventajas y desventajas de incorporar mujeres consejeras en los Consejos de Administración con respecto a tres decisiones empresariales en particular (calidad de la información financiera, desempeño empresarial y la divulgación de información sobre la responsabilidad social corporativa).

Este trabajo realiza una revisión de la literatura previa sobre el desempeño empresarial, sobre la revelación de información sobre la responsabilidad social empresarial y sobre la calidad de la información financiera desde 1975 hasta 2017, y contribuye a la literatura previa ofreciendo una amplia perspectiva de los principales resultados de la relación entre la presencia de mujeres en los Consejos de Administración y estas tres decisiones empresariales. Los resultados tienen implicaciones para los gobiernos, los académicos y los gerentes de las empresas.

This paper explores the impact of some audit committees' characteristics (executive and independent directors and directors' attendance at audit committee meetings) on CSR reporting. Moreover, it also aims to test the moderating effect of women directors on boards on the association between audit committees' characteristics and CSR disclosure.

This study uses an international sample comprising 13,264 firm-year observations of non-financial firms from 2007 to 2018.

The results show that executive and independent directors on audit committees have a negative impact on CSR reporting, while the directors' attendance at audit committees meetings is positively associated with CSR disclosure. This study’s results also provide convincing evidence that female directors on corporate boards positively moderate the negative association between executive and independent directors on audit committees and CSR disclosure. Finally, the findings also show that female directors on corporate boards do not moderate the positive impact of directors' attendance at audit committees' meetings on CSR information.

This study is focused on attributes of audit committees based on a sample of international listed non-financial firms.

This is the first study analyzing the moderating role of female directors on boards on the relations between both executive directors on audit committees and CSR reporting and the average attendance of directors at audit committees' meetings and CSR disclosure.

Este trabajo explora el impacto de algunas características de los comités de auditoría (consejeros ejecutivos e independientes y la asistencia de los consejeros a las reuniones de los comités de auditoría) en la divulgación de información de responsabilidad social corporativa (RSC). Además, también tiene como objetivo analizar el efecto moderador de las consejeras del consejo de administración en la relación entre las características de los comités y la divulgación de la RSC.

Este estudio se basa en una muestra internacional que comprende 13,264 observaciones empresas-año no financieras desde 2007 hasta 2018.

Los resultados muestran que los consejeros ejecutivos e independientes en comités de auditoría tienen un impacto negativo en la divulgación de información de RSC, mientras que la asistencia de los consejeros a las reuniones del comité se asocia positivamente con la divulgación de información sobre RSC. Nuestros resultados también evidencian que las consejeras del consejo de administración moderan positivamente la asociación negativa entre los consejeros ejecutivos e independientes de los comités de auditoría y la divulgación de información sobre RSC. Finalmente, los hallazgos también muestran que las consejeras no moderan el impacto positivo de la asistencia de los consejeros a las reuniones de los comités de auditoría y la divulgación sobre RSC.

Este estudio se centra en los atributos de los comités de auditoría de una muestra de empresas internacionales no financieras cotizadas.

Este es el primer estudio que examina el papel moderador de las consejeras de los consejos en las relaciones entre los consejeros ejecutivos en los comités de auditoría y el informe de RSC y la asistencia media de los consejeros a las reuniones de los comités de auditoría y divulgación de la RSC.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the anniversary issue marking 30 years of academic publication.

This anniversary issue contains 12 articles from 11 countries and 17 academic institutions which present literature reviews, meta-analyses, and novel studies. It also contains testimonials about the history of the journal from Enrique Ogliastri (Editor and/or Director between 1998 and 2018), Elvira Salgado (Editor between 2002 and 2013), and Carlos Pombo (Chief Editor, 2013 to the present).

The history of the journal may be divided into five stages: first, the foundation at the Universidad de Chile (1988-1998); second, the move to the Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá) and the preparation of a proposal to the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) for inclusion among the scientific journals of the world (1999-2004); third, a period of consolidation in Latin America (2004-2007); fourth, the acceptance of the journal in ISI and the development of an electronic platform with free access to the journal (2008-2013); and fifth, the entry of the Emerald group as editorial partner (2013-2018).

The 12 articles present literature reviews, meta-analyzes, and novel studies.

El propósito de este editorial es presentar el tema del aniversario.

Se publican doce artículos provenientes de once países y 17 instituciones académicas. Se presentan los testimonios de Enrique Ogliastri (editor y/o director entre 1998 y 2018), Elvira Salgado (Editora entre 2002 y 2013), y Carlos Pombo (jefe editorial 2013-2018).

Se publican doce artículos provenientes de once países y 17 instituciones académicas. Se presentan los testimonios de Enrique Ogliastri (editor y/o director entre 1998 y 2018), Elvira Salgado (Editora entre 2002 y 2013), y Carlos Pombo (jefe editorial 2013-2018). La historia de la revista de CLADEA se podría dividir en cinco etapas: la fundación en la Universidad de Chile (1988-1998); pasó a cargo de la Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá), un período de puesta a punto para presentar al Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) la solicitud de ser analizada e incluida entre las revistas científicas del mundo (1999-2004); el período de consolidación en América Latina (2004-2007); la aceptación en ISI y el desarrollo de una plataforma electrónica de acceso libre a la revista (2008-2013); y el ingreso del grupo Emerald como socio editorial (2013-2018).

Los 12 artículos presentan revisiones de literatura, metanálisis y estudios novedosos

The purpose of this study is to determine the predominant features of the corporations in four Latin American that are countries associated with the disclosure of reputational risk in the frame of explanations proposed by the organizational institutionalism theory about the isomorphism due to environmental pressures like the organisation for economic cooperation and development (OECD) membership and the belonging of Pacific Alliance (PA).

Using an exploratory structural equation model (SEM) with 26 variables from the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) of a sample of 205 large companies from Mexico, Peru, Chile and Colombia that belong to the PA, during 2016, the research evaluates the association of firms features with the disclosure of reputational risk.

This research founds that country, industry, working conditions, financial performance and status in terms of firms listed in the stock market and in rankings of corporate reputation use to talk about reputational risk in firms' reports. The financial industry, which is ruled by Basel guidelines, and companies with lower returns tend to disclose reputational risk. The isomorphism does not depend on the time of membership in the OECD.

The findings revealed that belonging to the same multilateral organizations like PA or OECD is not enough to create isomorphism in improving the corporative disclosure increasing the quality of sustainability reports. Policymakers and managers need more incentive to avoid strategic silence and selective disclosure of information to promote more transparency for society and enhance the usefulness of accounting and corporate information to interpret business risks, especially reputational risk.

This article contributes to the emerging literature in reputational risk disclosure with evidence explained in the frame of organizational institutionalism evaluating the features that contribute to the legitimatization process, with counterintuitive evidence about the isomorphism pressured by multilateral organizations and economic blocks.

El propósito es determinar los rasgos predominantes de las corporaciones en cuatro países de América Latina asociados a la divulgación del riesgo reputacional en el marco de las explicaciones propuestas por la teoría del institucionalismo organizacional sobre el isomorfismo debido a presiones ambientales como la membresía de la OCDE y la pertenencia a la Alianza del Pacífico – AP.

Utilizando un modelo exploratorio de ecuaciones estructurales (SEM) con 26 variables de la Global Reporting Initiative GRI de una muestra de 205 grandes empresas de México, Perú, Chile y Colombia que pertenecen a la AP, durante 2016, la investigación evalúa la asociación de las características de las empresas con la divulgación del riesgo reputacional.

Esta investigación encontró que el país, la industria, las condiciones de trabajo, el desempeño financiero y el estado en términos de empresas que cotizan en el mercado de valores y en los rankings de reputación corporativa utilizan para reverlar sobre el riesgo reputacional en sus informes. La industria financiera, regida por las directrices de Basilea, y las empresas con rendimientos más bajos tienden a revelar el riesgo reputacional. El isomorfismo no depende del tiempo de membresía en la OCDE.

Los hallazgos revelaron que no basta con pertenecer a los mismos organismos multilaterales como AP u OCDE para crear isomorfismo en la mejora de la divulgación corporativa aumentando la calidad de los informes de sostenibilidad. Los responsables de la formulación de políticas y los gerentes necesitan más incentivos para evitar el silencio estratégico y la divulgación selectiva de información para promover una mayor transparencia para la sociedad y mejorar la utilidad de la información contable y corporativa para interpretar los riesgos comerciales, especialmente el riesgo reputacional.

Este artículo contribuye a la literatura emergente en revelación de riesgos reputacionales con evidencia explicada en el marco de la institucionalidad organizacional evaluando las características que contribuyen al proceso de legitimación, con evidencia contraintuitiva sobre el isomorfismo presionado por organismos multilaterales y bloques económicos.

This study aims to analyse the extent of online social responsibility (SR) information disclosure by Portuguese municipalities and to identify related determinant factors, based on Institutional Theory and Legitimacy Theories.

A content analysis was performed on webpages from 60 sampled municipalities, and an information disclosure index was created.

Descriptive statistics obtained indicate the Total Disclosure Index (TDI) value was 0.46. The Economic Information sub-category exhibits the highest value (0.66), followed by the Social and Environmental Information categories (0.61 and 0.36, respectively).

The multivariate analysis results indicate that LA21 implementation the existence of tax burdens, the characterisation of a municipality as urban and environmental/SR certification application positively influence SR information disclosure. TDI is negatively affected by the existence of an inactive population (i.e. by the percentage of individuals ≤19 and ≥65 years of age).

Corporate digital responsibility is a challenge for companies as it recognizes that the use of technology can have a significant impact on society. In addition, a whole philosophy of nonfinancial disclosure has recently been developing and has become a priority for organizations seeking to be transparent and accountable. While some companies have already adopted this approach, practices related to information transparency in corporate digital responsibility are still in their early stages, creating a need to improve reporting and promote greater understanding in this evolving field. Based on a study analyzing the disclosure of information on digitization and taking into account that the board of directors is the body in charge of companies’ disclosure policy, the study aims to identify the factors that favor this disclosure.

As established by Ponce et al. (2022), IBEX-35 companies are Public Interest Companies subject to European and international regulations and are required to provide information on economic efficiency indicators and nonfinancial indicators. In relation to the proposed objectives, the aim is to analyze the possible factors that condition the degree of dissemination of information on digitization. To this end, a multiple linear regression of the dissemination index has been proposed following the works of Gil et al. (2018), Rodríguez-Ariza et al. (2014) and Briano-Turrent & Rodríguez-Ariza (2013). The estimation will be performed using the SPSS software (version 27).

The results show that the number of independent directors has a positive influence on the level of information disclosed by companies online. Conversely – and in line with previous studies – board size does not have a significant impact on the level of information transparency.

This study has a few limitations that adversely impact the generalizability of the results. First, the subjective problem inherent in the rating and evaluation of information collected in the annual reports of sample companies cannot be excluded. Second, the consideration that each element that constitutes the IDT has the same weight, there being no weighting criteria. Finally, the study population is limited to 35 listed companies, not considering medium and small companies. Nevertheless, despite these limitations, the results are sufficiently interesting to justify and extend the research to a larger number of companies and, of course, to other stock market indices. Another interesting future line of research would be to include more independent variables to analyze what other factors determine the degree of digital transparency of companies.

The study may be useful for organizations to take into account when identifying the corporate governance characteristics that will improve the disclosure of information on digitalization, which is still incipient and voluntary. Similar considerations could be made with respect to the competent authorities in regulating the disclosure of information by companies, insofar as they should promote policies that, in general, favor corporate transparency.

This study contributes to the literature in three main ways: 1) although there is a large body of research that has explored the impact of corporate governance dimensions on the level of nonfinancial transparency, the present study pioneers the approach to digitalization disclosure in Spanish listed companies; 2) it provides evidence that it is highly advisable to have a majority of independent directors to achieve a higher degree of digital disclosure; and 3) the results of this research show the current state of digital transparency on the websites of most of the listed companies in Spain, which could serve as a benchmark for those responsible for issuing corporate governance policies and guidelines.

This paper aims to determine the impact of the economic crisis on the level of social commitment of the Spanish savings banks.

The paper uses the information provided by Spanish savings banks (SSBs) for 2004‐2009. In particular, it analyses the evolution of the welfare fund, the financial results, and the ratio between the welfare fund and the financial results variables for each of the SBs, to go more thoroughly into how the welfare fund is distributed.

The evolution of the allocations to the welfare fund shows a significant decline in absolute numbers, as a logical consequence of the significant decrease in the financial results. However, a substantial WF/P ratio growth can be seen in 2008 – 27.81 per cent – and, above all, of 36.08 per cent in 2009. This has allowed a certain mitigation of the decline of the allocations. In addition, a change has taken place in the distribution of the welfare fund, the amount for health and social care being bigger than the amount spent on culture and leisure.

This paper aims to highlight the impact that the process of mergers and acquisitions can have on the survival and the social commitment of the SBs.

The paper provides a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the effect of the economic crisis on the social commitment of the Spanish savings banks.

The purpose of this paper is to verify empirically how some Spanish firms present their social information with regard to labor practices, human rights, society, and product responsibility and how by means of this social information the firms reveal their ethical behavior.

The study of the social information reflected in the sustainability report was carried out by the content analysis method. This analysis technique is based on detecting the presence or absence of information, covering a number of different subjects areas. To accomplish the study, certain companies belonging to different sectors of activity were chosen and all the companies belong to the IBEX‐35, which comprises the main Spanish companies on the Stock Market.

In light of the results obtained it can be considered that the firms analyzed through the social information they present do manifest and make known their ethical behavior, behavior considered as the good, correct and just actions of firms that seek to improve the quality of life of their workers, as well as their social conditions, in areas that are important for the workers such as employment, health and safety, training and education, non‐discrimination, disciplinary practices, freedom of association, society, etc.

This work should also be extended to more companies, both nationally and internationally and not just be limited to the largest companies. There is still much to be done to cover the possible gaps in social reporting.

This paper examines the social information of companies belonging to different sectors of activity and how by means of this social information the firms reveal their ethical behavior.

The aim of this study is to analyse the level of environmental, economic, and social engagement disclosed by local governments, taking into account factors such as political ideology and media pressure.

The authors analysed 102 large Spanish municipalities, using data from 2011. An econometric model was used based on dependency techniques for cross-sectional data. The Tobit technique is suitable, since it enables the authors to address particular considerations of extreme scores on the dependent variable.

The results show that local governments report less strategic and socio-economic information when subjected to strong media pressure, because the press tends to focus on unusual, negative news, and ignores other issues such as the environment. However, in municipalities governed by left-wing parties, media pressure actually promotes disclosure of this type of information.

It would be interesting to create an information index which includes local governments' disclosure, spanning a period of several years.

Particularly in municipalities governed by a left-wing party, media pressure favours the disclosure of sustainability information, including information about the municipal corporation and strategic and social issues.

This study analyses the impact of the press on the disclosure of sustainability information by local governments and also tests the moderating effect of the ruling party's political ideology. The authors did not find any paper that had analysed this impact before.