Does Corporate Governance Affect Sustainability Disclosure? A Mixed Methods Study

TLDR: In this article, the impact of corporate governance on economic, social, and environmental sustainability disclosures is analyzed. And the authors conclude that a large board size consisting of a female director and a CSR committee is better able to check and control management decisions regarding sustainability issues (be they economic, environment, or social) and resulted in better sustainability disclosure.

Abstract: This research paper aims to understand the impact of corporate governance (CG) on economic, social, and environmental sustainability disclosures. This paper adopted an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach. The data regarding corporate governance and sustainability disclosure were collected from top 100 companies listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE) for the period ranging from 2012 to 2015. In addition to the quantitative data, we collected qualitative data through interviews with five board members of different companies. Overall, our results indicate that CG elements enhance sustainability disclosures. This study concludes that a large board size consisting of a female director and a CSR committee (CSRC) is better able to check and control management decisions regarding sustainability issues (be they economic, environment, or social) and resulted in better sustainability disclosure. This paper, through quantitative and qualitative analysis, provides a methodological and empirical contribution to the literature on corporate governance and sustainability reporting in emerging and developing countries.