Corporate board diversity, environmental compliance, and occupational health and safety disclosure for achieving sustainable development goals in an emerging economy

Abstract

The study is a pioneer in investigating how board diversity affects occupational health and safety disclosure in Nigeria by the selected nonfinancial companies for 7 years (2016–2022). It provides empirical proof of how environmental compliance affects the association between board diversity and occupational health and safety disclosure in ensuring the attainment of sustainable development goals. The study obtained data from a sample of 83 listed nonfinancial firms, and a content analysis technique was employed to compute emissions disclosure indexes using global reporting initiatives standards from the sampled firms. The study used the generalized method of moments (GMMs) econometric model to evaluate the direct effects of board diversity on firm occupational health and safety disclosure. Panels corrected standard errors (HPCSEs) and feasible least squares (FGLSs) regressions were used to establish the robustness of the GMM regression. The results found that board gender and board nationality have positive and significant associations with occupational health and safety disclosure. The study documented that interactions between board diversity and occupational health and safety disclosure have influenced the association between board gender, board nationality, board expertise and occupational health and safety disclosure. The findings could help policymakers and regulators in revising policies and regulations that can improve the ability of such attributes to make firms improve the level of reporting information. This is the first study that provides empirical evidence on how board gender and board nationality influence occupational health and safety disclosure and their interaction with environmental compliance improves sustainability.