Universities are increasingly called to demonstrate to stakeholders their active commitment to responding to social and environmental issues through comprehensive reporting practices. Such expectations were further enhanced by the recent pandemic outbreak unleashed by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which has bolstered social pressures on universities to demonstrate their active engagement in supporting health systems in fighting against the virus as well as in ensuring adequate e-learning paths for students. Therefore, this study aims to investigate to what extent Italian public universities disclose sustainability information on their websites. The study is based on a well-established framework adapted from the literature. The category “Sustainability and COVID-19” has been added to also examine the extent to which universities disclose information regarding policies and strategies adopted to cope with the ongoing pandemic crisis. Results evidence that most of the sampled universities devote a specific section of their websites to disclose information on sustainability issues. Results also highlight a strong commitment to the disclosure of social issues. Particular attention is devoted to disclosing information about “Social Performance”; “Sustainability and COVID-19” and “Society Issues”. The results may be beneficial to both policymakers and university governors in gaining awareness about the potential of websites in engendering insights into the social issues that involve a university and a wider range of stakeholders.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the relationship between the female board participation and the readability of annual report. Design/methodology/approach Using hand-collected data from a “network-oriented market”, as exists in Italy, which includes 435 annual reports, this study uses a regression analysis to test whether female board participation affects the annual report readability. Findings Female board participation is found to have a positive impact on disclosure readability in firms with small boardroom connections but the opposite effect in firms with large boardroom connections. Research limitations/implications This paper responds to recent calls in the corporate governance literature by investigating whether the female board participation affects the transparency of the disclosure practices. Practical implications This study has policy implications, as it helps to improve evaluations of how, and under which circumstances, female board participation may lead to higher disclosure quality and thus benefit investors. Originality/value This paper shows that female board participation has different effects on the disclosure readability at different levels of board positions in inter-firm networks.

Purpose This study aims to analyse the extent and type of online intellectual capital (IC) disclosure provided by a sample of 117 Italian listed companies. The study also seeks to identify possible determinants of the extent and type of intellectual capital disclosure (ICD) practiced by Italian listed companies via the Web. Design/methodology/approach A content analysis is conducted to investigate the extent and type of online ICD provided through websites by a sample of 117 Italian listed companies. Two multivariate ordinary least squares regression models are applied to estimate the associations proposed in the research hypotheses. Findings The results show that Italian listed companies are exploiting the potential of websites to satisfy the information needs of investors and other stakeholders in relation to strategic IC-based corporate resources, with a particular focus on external capital. For the most part, ICD is conveyed in narrative form. Moreover, while the size and board independence positively affect both the extent and type of ICD, profitability exerts a positive influence only on the extent of online ICD. Originality/value Unlike previous ICD studies, which focussed on annual reports, this study explores an emerging and innovative tool to convey ICD, namely, the website. In today’s world, websites are considered to be the most expedient and effective tools for sharing and transmitting information, including IC; they are a vehicle that can shift the IC focus from the organisation to the wider ecosystem.

Purpose – This study aims to determine the impact of information-sharing disseminated through the\ud firms’ board connections on the readability of the management discussion and analysis (MD&A).\ud Design/methodology/approach – The investigation conducted in this study is performed by using a\ud regression analysis. The readability of the MD&A is measured by the Flesch reading ease. The level of\ud information-sharing is determined by the degree centrality index. The sample is composed of 83\ud Italian-listed firms that comprise over 4,000 directors for the period 2008-2012.\ud Findings – The main results of this study show a significant relationship between the degree centrality\ud and MD&A readability, suggesting that board connections play a crucial role in improving the quality of\ud external reporting.\ud Research limitations/implications – This study uses a limited sample size. Further, we do not isolate\ud the possible effect of other reporting incentives that may affect the readability of external reporting.\ud Practical implications – This study argues that for a non-English-speaking country such as Italy,\ud information-sharing is a vehicle for improving the quality of external reporting and the competitiveness\ud of firms in international capital markets.\ud Originality/value – This research offers an original contribution to the existent literature by highlighting\ud the role of the firms’ board connections in determining the level of the corporate disclosure readability.\ud This implies the opportunity for future research to take into account the firms’ board connections when\ud they analyze related phenomena

PurposeRecent regulatory changes in Europe have promoted non-financial reporting practices (e.g., Directive, 2014/95/EU) and gender diversity in decision-making positions. Special attention is devoted to promoting the gender balance on corporate boards as a key mechanism to enhance corporate governance effectiveness and better address multiple stakeholders' needs. With this in mind, this study intends to examine the impact of boardroom gender diversity on Environmental Social Governance (ESG) disclosure practices in the European listed firms' context.Design/methodology/approachThe study applies different panel data models on an extended sample of 1,392 firms from 21 European Union (EU) countries for six years (2014–2019).FindingsFindings allow to spotlight the positive role exerted by the presence of women directors on the boards in enhancing ESG disclosure, both at the overall and specific (individual ESG scores) level.Research limitations/implicationsPolicymakers and regulators might consider the study's evidence as a stimulus to continue in promoting strategic actions and reforms that foster gender equality and balance in corporate decision-making positions.Practical implicationsCreating a heterogeneous and diversified board of directors may support implementing a “sustainable corporate governance” recently claimed by the EC.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the literature by disentangling the links between gender diversity and ESG disclosure over a period that covers a long season of European regulations and measures that affected both non-financial reporting practices and the board of directors' composition. Accordingly, it can contribute to enhancing the practical and theoretical understanding of the pivotal role that gender diversity may exert in strengthening corporate governance and, in turn, corporate transparency and accountability behaviours about non-financial issues.