Impact of Corporate Governance on Environmental Information Disclosure: Evidence from India

Abstract

A growing number of studies have been conducted to know the influences of corporate governance on the disclosure behaviors of companies. This study aims to empirically investigate the effects of corporate governance mechanisms namely, Board Size (BS), Board Independence (BI), CEO Duality, Company Size, and Return on Asset (ROA) on environmental information disclosure (EID). Environmental information has been analyzed through content analysis and measured through dummy variables. The data of 53 most polluted companies, listed in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) of India has been studied for 5 years period (2015-16 to 2019-20) and the Feasible Generalized Least Square (FGLS) regression technique of panel data has been employed to estimate the overall result. The findings of the study indicate that Board Size (BS), CEO Duality (CD), and ROA have a significant impact on the disclosure of environmental information, while Board Independence (BI) and Company Size (CS) do not influence EID. The study suggests that the disclosure of environmental information is necessary especially for environmentally sensitive companies to be disclosed in their periodic reports on a mandatory basis.