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This paper aims to investigate the influence of board characteristics on triple bottom line (TBL) reporting, both at aggregate and component level (environment, social and economic) for the top 50 companies in New Zealand.

Content analysis is used to create reporting indexes for 2016 and 2017, which serve as proxy for TBL reporting. Regression analysis is then used to investigate the association between board characteristics and TBL reporting, along with its separate components.

This paper finds significant positive associations of TBL with profitability and firm size; environmental bottom line with board size and profitability; social bottom line with board size, profitability and firm size; and economic bottom line (ECO) with firm size. A significant negative association is found between ECO and leverage.

This study provides incentives for companies to adopt TBL reporting as the findings show a positive association between the extent of reporting and profitability. This implies that companies should improve their level of reporting while ensuring that voluntary disclosures show a true and fair view to maintain a healthy relationship with their stakeholders.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first attempt to investigate TBL reporting along with its separate dimensions in the NZ context. It takes into account recent changes that occurred in the corporate environment in New Zealand as well as new practices that emerged in the world, especially the diffusion of the Global Reporting Initiative and the International Integrating Reporting Council Framework.

This paper examines the evolution and determinants of the extent and quality of corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure in a developing country (Mauritius).

CSR disclosures from annual reports of all listed companies were hand-collected for a 12-year period (2007–2018). The extent of disclosure was measured using a dichotomous index (41 items) while the quality of each disclosure item was assessed on a three-point scale. We rely on organisational legitimacy and resource dependence theories to investigate (1) trends in CSR disclosure extent and quality (2) the role of selected board and firm characteristics, namely the business qualifications of board members, extent of cross-directorships and the firm’s use of employee volunteering scheme, on CSR disclosure.

CSR disclosure extent, notably in relation to environment and human resources, gradually increased to an overall score of 45%. Comparatively, the quality of disclosures was low, with an average score of 20%. The proportion of business-qualified directors is only positively associated with CSR disclosure extent. The extent of cross-directorships is negatively associated with CSR disclosure quality while employee volunteering is positively associated with disclosure extent and quality.

The findings reveal the relatively low quality of information being disclosed, and in spite of CSR and governance reforms, there seems to be limited influence from the board of directors and their networks; prompting a call to foster greater board engagement on CSR matters. The results also highlight the need for a multi-dimensional assessment of CSR disclosure.

This study examines the bi-directional relationship between corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) and ownership structure through a dynamic empirical framework in an emerging economy context.

Data over 10 years are used to investigate the response of disclosure to ownership structure variables and vice versa. Dynamic bi-directional relationships are hypothesised and empirically investigated using a panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) model. The ownership structure variables used are government ownership, block ownership and director ownership, while CSRD is constructed as a score through content analysis.

A bi-directional negative relationship between CSRD and government ownership is found, revealing a preference for the state to invest in companies with opaque disclosure. CSRD is found to respond negatively to block ownership, albeit weakly. Results also show that directors prefer to own shares in the company they manage when there are low levels of CSRD.

The current empirical set-up of using a small emerging economy may not carry to the context of larger emerging economies where the institutional context may differ. Thus, future research could use this dynamic empirical approach to re-examine the questions raised in this paper using data from other emerging economies. The use of a longer time series makes it feasible to explore further analysis what was not possible in this study, such as an impulse response analysis examining the reaction of the variables of interest, CSRD and ownership variables for a specific time horizon to particular changes or shocks associated with one of the endogenous variables in the PVAR.

A major implication is that expecting disclosure practices to improve due to government and director initiatives would be less likely in emerging economies. State and director shareholders prefer to invest in opaque companies because they may purposely choose to keep the minimum disclosure levels. The paper calls for a transparent process and ethical guidelines to guide government investment in firms.

The study investigates the bi-directional relationship between ownership structure and CSRD in contrast to the existing literature's presupposed one-way relationship between these variables by demonstrating that bi-directionality does matter. This paper also contributes to the CSRD literature in the emerging economy context. The bi-directional negative relationship between CSRD and government ownership calls for a transparent selection process of board members as representatives of the state in those companies where the government has an ownership stake. It also calls for a transparent process and ethical guidelines to guide government investment in firms.

We investigate the association between intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) and board characteristics in the unique setting of Mauritius, a Small Island Developing State. The uniqueness of the setting stems from the country's corporate governance landscape, where most companies have female directors and a high proportion of directors with multiple directorships, director independence is symbolic and directors come from a close-knit group.

We use 120 firm-year observations from companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius from 2014 to 2017. All data is hand collected from annual reports using content analysis method. Panel multivariate regression is used to test the hypotheses with relevant controls, including intellectual capital performance.

ICD is negatively associated with board independence and positively associated with gender diversity of the board. No association is found between ICD and the size of the board, multiple directorships or the average tenure of the board members.

This is the first study investigating the association of board gender diversity, multiple directorship and tenure of board members with ICD in annual reports. The relationships observed between board characteristics and ICD highlight the context-dependent nature of these relationships. This study also overcomes the correlated omitted variable bias likely to have affected the analyses in previous studies examining the nexus between board characteristics and ICD through its control for intellectual capital performance.

Drawing upon agency theory, this study analyses the influence of board characteristics on integrated reporting (IR) for the top 50 companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX50). Focus is placed on IR at the aggregate level as well as its separate components, namely Future Opportunities and Risks (FOPRI), Governance and Strategy (GOVSTR), Performance (PERF), Overview and Business Model (OBM) and General Preparation and Presentation (GPP).

A checklist is devised based on the IIRC (International Integrated Reporting Council) framework to track companies' disclosures for the period from 1st July 2014 to 30th June 2017. Regression analysis is used to investigate the determinants (board size, board independence, activity of the board, gender diversity, firm size, profitability and growth opportunities) of IR and its separate components.

The findings indicate a significant and positive effect of board independence on the aggregate IR index, FOPRI and GPP. A negative and significant association is found between activity of the board and both the aggregate IR index and its separate components, including GOVSTR, PERF and GPP. Additionally, the aggregate IR index is significantly related to firm size, profitability and growth opportunities.

The limited sample of 50 companies over three years is the main limitation of the study. The study suffers from an inherent limitation from the use of content analysis in assessing the level of IR. No checklist to measure the level of IR can be fully exhaustive. Furthermore, we focus on whether an item in the checklist is disclosed, using a dichotomous scale, thus ignoring the quality of information disclosed.

The study has several practical implications. From a managerial perspective, it shows that having more board meetings harms the level of IR. The results can guide regulators, such as the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), when drafting new regulations/guidelines/listing rules. If regulators aim for a higher level of integration in the reports, they know which “triggers to pull” to attain their target. Our results can guide regulators to choose the appropriate trigger among various alternatives. For instance, if a higher level of integrated reporting is desired, size instead of profitability should be chosen. Finally, ASX listed companies can use our checklist as a scorecard for their self-assessment.

This research is the first to investigate IR by devising a checklist based on IIRC (2013) along with an additional GPP component in the ASX context. Using separate models to examine each component of the aggregate IR index is also unique to this study. The study also brings to the fore the role of gender-diverse boards in promoting IR. It reiterates the debate about imposing a quota for better gender representation on boards.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of the ownership of institutional shareholders, the proportion of non-executive members, the percentage of ownership of major shareholders, the duality of the tasks of chief executive officer and chairman of the board of director, financial leverage, the amount of the remuneration of the board of director, the company’s life and the amount of export on internet financial reporting.

For this purpose, the authors surveyed the 301 listed companies on Tehran Stock Exchange in 2015. The statistical method used to test the hypothesis of the study was cross-sectional data.

The results indicate the negative impact of ratio of non-executive members and the positive impact of financial leverage, size, liquidity and the life of the company in stock, over internet financial reporting.

The current study is almost the first study which is conducted in a developing country, and the results may helpful to the other developing nations.

This research aims to comprehend the factors that impact the emerging inclination of consumers toward mobile finance technology (fintech) services over banking institutions. The study focuses on users' demographics and psychographics to delineate their unique segments and profiles.

The study proposes a segmentation and profiling framework that includes variance analysis, two-step cluster analysis and pairwise statistical tests. This framework is applied to a dataset of customers using a range of mobile fintech services, specifically robo-investment, peer-to-peer (P2P) payments, robo-advisory and digital savings. The analysis creates distinct customer profile clusters, which are later validated using pairwise statistical tests based on segmentation output.

Empirical results reveal that P2P payment service users exhibit a higher frequency of usage, proficiency and intention to continue using the service compared to users of robo-investment or digital savings platforms. In contrast, individuals utilizing robo-advisory services are identified to have a significantly greater familiarity and intention to sustain engagement with the service compared to digital savings users.

The findings provide financial institutions, especially traditional banks with actionable insights into their customer base. This information enables them to identify specific customer needs and preferences, thereby allowing them to tailor products and services accordingly. Ultimately, this understanding may strategically position traditional banks to maintain competitiveness amidst the increasing prominence of fintech enterprises.

This research provides an in-depth examination of customer segments and profiles within the mobile fintech services sphere, thus giving a nuanced understanding of customer behavior and preferences and generating practical recommendations for banks and other financial institutions. This study thereby sets the stage for further research and paves the way for developing personalized products and services in the evolving fintech landscape.