ABSTRACT

In the aftermath of corporate collapses and scandals, transparent communication with stakeholders is vital in rebuilding trust. Notwithstanding sound theoretical arguments advocating the importance of board diversity, e.g. improved corporate governance, empirical results remained mixed. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of board composition on companies’ use of their websites as voluntary communication channel for corporate governance and transparency disclosures. A quantitative methodology was used to measure corporate governance and transparency disclosures available on corporate websites for a sample of JSE-listed companies. By means of multiple regression analysis, findings showed that companies with more board members, a higher percentage of female directors and directors over the age of 50 years excel in the disclosure of corporate governance and transparency-related information. Pertaining to strategic information, companies with more independent non-executive directors disclosed more strategic information and companies with more ethnic directors scored higher on attempts to level the accessibility of information to all stakeholders. Overall, the findings, therefore, suggest that as board diversity may improve both corporate governance and transparency; stakeholders may also benefit from well-diversified boards. Finally, support is provided for the Employment equity and Broad-based employment equity Acts, as well as the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill implemented in South Africa to encourage more gender and ethnic diversity.

摘要

在公司倒闭和丑闻之后，与利益相关者的透明沟通对于重建信任至关重要。尽管支持董事会多元化重要性的合理理论论据，例如改善公司治理，但实证结果仍然喜忧参半。本研究的目的是探讨董事会组成对公司使用其网站作为公司治理和透明度披露的自愿沟通渠道的影响。使用定量方法来衡量 JSE 上市公司样本的公司网站上可用的公司治理和透明度披露。通过多元回归分析，研究结果表明，董事会成员较多的公司，在披露公司治理和透明度相关信息方面，女性董事和 50 岁以上董事的比例较高。在战略信息方面，拥有更多独立非执行董事的公司披露了更多的战略信息，拥有更多种族董事的公司在努力提高所有利益相关者的信息可访问性方面得分更高。因此，总体而言，调查结果表明，董事会多元化可能会改善公司治理和透明度；利益相关者也可以从多元化的董事会中受益。最后，支持《就业平等法》和基础广泛的就业平等法，以及在南非实施的《妇女赋权和性别平等法案》，以鼓励更多的性别和种族多样性。