Gender Diversity of Board Members and the Quality of Information in Sustainability Reports in Brazil
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14392/asaa.2025180207Keywords:
Gender Diversity, Information Quality, Sustainability ReportsAbstract
Objective: The objective of the study is to analyze the relationship between gender diversity on the Board of Directors of companies included in the Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) and the quality of information in sustainability reports, from 2014 to 2021.
Method: The sample comprised 33 companies, providing 244 observations. The variables used to analyze the quality of information in sustainability reports were balance, conciseness and clarity, reliability, and comparability.
Results: The results of the research demonstrated that there is no significant relationship between the composition of the board of directors in terms of gender and the informational quality of sustainability reports. The readability of the reports showed a significant and negative relationship for companies belonging to the ISE, demonstrating that they publish more complex reports than companies that are not part of the index. Furthermore, the results showed that companies with a female Chief Executive Officer (CEO) tend to have a board of directors with a greater female presence, which, in turn, is also more common in companies that belong to the ISE.
Contributions: The results of the study contribute to fostering debate on the impact of women's presence in the market and the quality of information reported. Although the results of the research differ from the studies used on a theoretical basis, they are consistent with market expectations, where specific gender issues should not be factors that make a difference in the quality of information reporting.
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