Board Expertise and Sustainability Reporting in Listed Banks in Nigeria

Abstract

Despite the growing evidence on the determinants of sustainability reporting, there exist limited and inconclusive studies on the impact of board expertise on sustainability reporting. This study investigates the influence of environmentally sensitive, certified or educated board members on the disclosure of sustainability report. Based on the static panel data regression estimators for 10 Nigerian Deposit Money Banks over the period of 2014- 2016, the study revealed that highly educated directors have an altogether constructive influence on the sustainability report disclosure while controlling for corporate administration and firm-level qualities. In addition, we find that the executive and non-executive directors have low experience in environmental issues resulting in an insignificant effect on the disclosure of sustainability reporting. This paper suggests that firms should allow more directors with environmental background, who have a lower motivation to boost transient returns since they are likely to influence environmental performance