The impact of board and audit committee characteristics on voluntary disclosure: A meta-analysis

Abstract

In this paper we apply meta-analysis to a sample of 64 empirical studies to identify the potential moderators to the relationship between board, audit committee characteristics and voluntary disclosure. We examine whether the results are affected by the differences in the construction of disclosure index, the type of voluntary disclosure, the method of disclosure, the definitions of variables relating to corporate governance, the level of investor protection, and country geographic location. We find that, whilst board size, board composition and audit committee have a significant positive effect on voluntary disclosure, CEO duality has a significant negative effect. In addition, country geographic location moderates the association between board size, board composition, CEO duality and voluntary disclosure. Furthermore, the association between CEO duality and voluntary disclosure is moderated by disclosure type, disclosure method and the level of investor protection. Finally, differences in the definitions of explanatory variables moderate the association between board composition and voluntary disclosure. We conduct a sensitivity analysis which provides evidence that, in respect of the time period, prior to 2002, CEO duality has a significant negative effect on voluntary disclosure and has an insignificant effect for the period thereafter.

The Relationship Between Board Characteristics and Environmental Disclosure: Evidence from Turkish Listed Companies

“…This result provides supporting evidence for the first hypothesis and implies that firms with larger boards are likely to disclose more environmental information than firms with smaller boards. This result is consistent with the findings of the many previous studies (e.g., Janggu et al 2014;Jizi et al 2014;Haji 2012;Sun et al 2010;Liao et al 2014;Allegrini and Greco 2013;Samaha et al 2015;Lim et al 2007;Kathyayini et al 2012).…”

“…Furthermore, Elzahar and Hussainey (2012) stated that the increased board size may lead to an increase in the number of directors who have a financial or accounting background, which could have a positive influence on corporate environmental disclosure (Elzahar and Hussainey 2012). Consistent with these arguments, the results of the empirical studies such as Janggu et al (2014), Ntim et al (2013), Jizi et al (2014), Haji (2012), Akhtaruddin et al (2009), Buniamin et al (2011), Sun et al (2010, Cheng and Courtenay (2006), Liao et al (2014), Allegrini and Greco (2013), Samaha et al (2015), Lim et al (2007), Kathyayini et al (2012), Hidalgo et al (2011) documented a positive relationship between the board size and the level of disclosure.…”

“…Consistent with this suggestion, Iatridis (2013) found a positive relationship between envirionmental disclosure quality and the percentage of independent directors sitting on an audit committee in Malaysia. Likewise, Samaha et al (2015) reported a positive relationship between the level of voluntary disclosure and the percentage of independent directors in the audit committee. In light of these results, the fourth hypothesis is formulated as follows:…”

Firms’ Board Independence and Corporate Social Performance: A Meta-Analysis

“…Although the meta-analytical research design includes most of the previous literature about the influence of the independence of a firm's board on CSP, it could not detect endogeneity or reverse causality if the original papers did not control for this effect [183]. The limited number of papers in some sub-samples when testing for moderating effects is another limitation of the current research.…”

“…On the one hand, the independence of a firm's board has been defined as the extent to which the board of directors operates independently from executive directors [182] and it has been usually measured as the percentage of board members who are non-executive directors, outside directors and independent directors [49,50,67,183]. On the other hand, Dunn and Sainty [74] state that "the essence of CSP is the recognition or awareness that there are multiple stakeholders against which a business has responsibility towards in the longer term".…”