Corporate Environmental Information Disclosure in India:  Role of Board Characteristics

T. Sita  Ramaiah; Satish Chandra  Tiwari; Munawar  Sayyad; Rohit  Mehta

T. Sita Ramaiah Assistant Professor, Dept. of Finance and Accounting, ICFAI Business School, The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education, Hyderabad, India
Satish Chandra Tiwari Assistant Professor, Dept. of Finance and Accounting, ICFAI Business School, The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education, Hyderabad, India
Munawar Sayyad Research Scholar, Dept. of Finance and Accounting, ICFAI Business School, The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education, Hyderabad, India
Rohit Mehta Assistant Professor, School of Management Sciences, Varanasi, India

Keywords: Board characteristics, Environmental Information disclosure (EID), Feasible General Least Square (FGLS)

Abstract

This research paper intends to observe the influence of board characteristics, namely, Board Size (BS), Board Independence (BI), Board meetings (BM), CEO duality (CD), firm-size (FS), Tobin Q, and ROA on environmental information disclosure. Environmental information has been measured through their availability in annual reports of particular companies. We have used panel data of 60 environmentally most polluted companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange from 2017 to 2021. The data has been analyzed using a regression model and tested through the feasible generalized least square (FGLS) regression technique. Our study indicates that Board Size (BS), CEO duality (CO), Board Meetings (BM), Tobin Q & ROA have a substantial influence on environmental information disclosure, whereas board independence and size of firms do not influence environmental information disclosure. Agency theory discusses that board size (BS) has a negative association with environmental information, but it opposes the empirical work of Ezhilarasi & Kabra (2017) & Pareek et.al. (2019).

Further, Al-Janadi et al. (2012) argue that CEO Duality (CD) and environmental information disclosure have significantly positively linked. The study recommends that environmental information disclosure is obligatory, specifically for environmentally sensitive companies in their periodic reports. In addition, governmental establishments should offer a transparent and standard guideline on disclosing environmental information to ensure responsible business.