Does Diversity Drive Non-Financial Reporting: Evidence from the Baltic States

Abstract

More and more companies worldwide choose to perform environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosures to improve their financial and reputational performance. Several recent studies suggest that board diversity can have a material role in explaining the ESG disclosure differences. This article aims to evaluate the relationship between board diversity and the ESG disclosures for companies listed on the NASDAQ OMX Baltic Stock exchange. First, the board diversity metrics of the public companies in Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are derived and compared to a sample of listed companies in other European countries to provide a relative comparison of the current degree of board diversity. Next, by performing content analysis of the non-financial reports and statistical analysis of the retrieved data, ESG disclosure scores are obtained. Finally, a correlation and independent t-test analysis is performed to evaluate the board diversity’s influence on the ESG disclosure scores. The results show that companies with larger boards and companies having female representatives on their supervisory boards have on average higher non-financial disclosures scores. No statistically significant results are found for gender diversity on the management boards. The results shed a light on the current stance of the board diversity of the listed Baltic companies as well as contribute to the growing academic literature trying to derive the sustainability drivers in the corporate set-up.