The effect of board of directors attributes, environmental committee and institutional ownership on carbon disclosure quality

Abstract

This study assesses the effect of the board of directors' attributes, environmental committee (EC), and institutional ownership (IO) on carbon disclosure quality (CDQ) from the perspectives of legitimacy and agency theories in Malaysia. This study collects and analyzes data based on 1000 observations of firms from carbon-intensive industries from 2015 to 2019. The effect of the board of directors' attributes, EC, and IO on the CDQ was observed using a panel data regression model. The study revealed a significant positive relationship between board independence, board size, female representation, EC, IO, and CDQ. These findings suggest that carbon disclosure awareness is rising in Malaysia as firms have gradually integrated corporate governance (CG) best practices into their business strategies. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the factors that influence CDQ in Malaysian businesses. This study identified firms with a higher CDQ using a new global reporting initiative-based carbon reporting index. This expands the literature on carbon disclosures. This study focuses on carbon-intensive industries, which might not reflect Malaysia's current CDQ situation. Thus, future research should focus on other sectors to fully grasp the current state of the CDQ in Malaysia and offer new perspectives on emerging markets. The findings may benefit a vast group of regulatory bodies in assessing Malaysian firms' responses to local and international carbon guidelines.