Purpose

The role that the board can have in influencing the adoption of non-financial reporting (NFR) by companies is a topic that has raised interest in the recent literature. However, very few have so far been said on the logic that underpins the selection by corporate boards of a particular model (sustainability and/or integrated). This study aims to examine if and to what extent board characteristics may influence the choice of companies to voluntarily publish a sustainability report, an integrated report or both of them, and if moderating variables, relating to incentives towards corporate transparency, may have an influence. Both of these types of reporting tools are in fact aimed at improving company disclosure towards sustainable development.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a multi-nomial regression analysis, this study tests the assumptions in a sample of companies listed on the Eurostoxx600 that adopt integrated or sustainability reporting or both of them for the period 2015–2018 for a total of 2,103 firm-years observations.

Findings

The results reveal that sustainability reporting is associated with board independence only, whilst the adoption of integrated reporting is influenced by board size and board independence. The same two variables influence also those companies that jointly adopt both sustainability and an integrated report. This confirms that integrated reporting requires more competencies and monitoring to be adopted. Furthermore, the results provide evidence that information asymmetry and financial constraints influence the decision of companies to publish the integrated report, sustainability report or both, whilst growth opportunities do not. Hence, moderating variables can have a role in explaining this association, and especially those that are related to the firm’s incentives related to the provision of financial capital by investors.

Research limitations/implications

This study contributes to the literature in three ways. First, it proposes an incremental analysis of the relationship between board characteristics and voluntary disclosure of integrated reporting, considering the effects of moderating variables on this association. Second, the above relationship is examined in a comparative way vis-à-vis the adoption of sustainability reporting. Third, it demonstrates that the analysis of these reporting tools can benefit from an understanding that relies on both agency and stakeholder theories, that have to be conceived somehow complementary. In terms of limitations, this study is exclusively focussed on larger European listed firms, and therefore, the findings may not be valid for small and medium firms and for companies operating outside Europe.

Practical implications

This study provides useful insights for managers and policymakers to better understand which are the characteristics of the board composition that can best encourage a company to pursue a reporting strategy based on sustainable development. This results to be particularly relevant and timely in the European context if the authors take into consideration the developments of the European Parliament and Commission towards the launch of a new legislative proposal on sustainable corporate governance in 2021.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the existing literature in two ways. First, it offers a unique perspective on the direct and indirect effects of board characteristics on the adoption of integrated and/or sustainability reports by examining it in a comparative perspective. Second, it further demonstrates that the analysis of NFR and especially integrated reporting might benefit from the adoption of multiple conceptual lenses, in this case, agency and stakeholder theories.

中文翻译：

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董事会特征以及可持续性和综合报告之间的选择：欧洲分析

目的

董事会在影响公司采用非财务报告 (NFR) 方面的作用是最近文献中引起兴趣的一个话题。然而，到目前为止，关于支持公司董事会选择特定模型（可持续性和/或集成）的逻辑的说法很少。本研究旨在检验董事会特征是否以及在多大程度上影响公司自愿发布可持续发展报告、综合报告或两者的选择，以及与企业透明度激励相关的调节变量是否可能产生影响。这两种类型的报告工具实际上都是为了改善公司的信息披露以实现可持续发展。

设计/方法/方法

通过多项回归分析，本研究测试了在 Eurostoxx600 上市公司样本中的假设，这些公司在 2015-2018 年期间采用了综合报告或可持续性报告或两者兼有，共 2,103 个公司年观察结果。

发现

结果表明，可持续发展报告仅与董事会独立性相关，而综合报告的采用受董事会规模和董事会独立性的影响。同样的两个变量也会影响那些联合采用可持续性和综合报告的公司。这证实了综合报告需要更多的能力和监测才能被采用。此外，结果证明信息不对称和财务约束会影响公司发布综合报告、可持续发展报告或两者的决定，而增长机会则不会。因此，调节变量可以在解释这种关联方面发挥作用，尤其是那些与公司激励措施相关的变量，这些变量与投资者提供金融资本有关。

研究限制/影响

这项研究在三个方面对文献做出了贡献。首先，考虑调节变量对这种关联的影响，它提出了对董事会特征与综合报告自愿披露之间关系的增量分析。其次，上述关系与采用可持续性报告的情况进行了比较研究。第三，它表明对这些报告工具的分析可以受益于依赖于机构和利益相关者理论的理解，这些理论必须以某种方式互补。就局限性而言，本研究仅针对较大的欧洲上市公司，因此，研究结果可能不适用于中小型公司和在欧洲以外运营的公司。

实际影响

本研究为管理者和政策制定者提供了有用的见解，以更好地了解董事会组成的哪些特征最能鼓励公司追求基于可持续发展的报告策略。如果作者考虑到欧洲议会和委员会在 2021 年推出关于可持续公司治理的新立法提案的发展，那么这一结果在欧洲背景下尤其相关和及时。

原创性/价值

该研究在两个方面对现有文献做出了贡献。首先，它提供了一个独特的视角，通过比较视角来考察董事会特征对采用综合报告和/或可持续发展报告的直接和间接影响。其次，它进一步表明对 NFR 的分析，尤其是综合报告可能受益于采用多个概念镜头，在这种情况下，机构和利益相关者理论。