Moderating Role of Ownership Structure on the Relationship Between Board Diversity and Forward-looking Information Disclosure

Abstract

The study's objective is to examine how ownership structure affects the relationship between Board Diversity (BD) and the disclosure of Forward-Looking Information (FLID). The study initially included 500 non-financial companies from the BSX 500 index for the year 2016. However, only 303 companies' data were analyzed due to insufficient information. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyze the FLID. The association between the research hypotheses was examined using OLS regression. The results indicated that the disclosure of forward-looking information was positively associated with female directors, foreign directors, promoters, and return on equity, while it was negatively associated with leverage, firm size, and big4. Furthermore, in terms of the moderating effect of promotors' holdings, it has been found that ownership structure has a negative effect on the relationship between board diversity and FLID. The study aimed to provide a better understanding of the disclosure practices of Indian companies.