The effect of board characteristics, chairman and CEO attributes on integrated reporting disclosure in Malaysia

• Main Author: Qaderi, Sumaia Ayesh Qasem
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: HD58.9 Organizational Effectiveness.; HF5667 Professional Ethics. Auditors.
• Online Access: https://etd.uum.edu.my/10664/1/permission%20to%20deposit-grant%20the%20permission-s903647.pdf; https://etd.uum.edu.my/10664/2/s903647_01.pdf; https://etd.uum.edu.my/10664/

Integrated Reporting (IR), a relatively new concept in corporate reporting, has drawn global interest in the disclosure literature, however, the studies conducted in Malaysia are limited. This study empirically investigates the effect of board characteristics, chairman attributes, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) attributes on IR disclosure level (IRDL) and quality (IRDQ). Based on stakeholder, agency and upper echelons theories, this study analyses data of 363 company‐year observations from a sample of publicly listed companies on the Bursa Malaysia from 2017 to 2020. The author constructed a comprehensive IR disclosure index with 100 items divided across four categories based on the International Integrated Reporting Framework (IIRF). Content analysis technique was used to measure IR disclosure from the annual reports. The hypotheses were tested using panel-corrected standard error (PCSE) regression. The results show a relatively moderate average for IRDL (65.317%) and IRDQ (54.438%), indicating increased awareness of IR by Malaysian companies. Board size, independence, gender diversity, and non-executive remuneration have a significant positive relationship with IR disclosure. This suggests the important role of board of directors in monitoring and reducing agency problems, and protecting stakeholders’ interests. However, directors with multiple directorships do not affect the IR disclosure. The findings indicate that a chairman with longer tenure and larger share ownership is significantly and negatively associated with IR-related information. Nevertheless, chairman age, educational level, and financial expertise are insignificantly related to IR information disclosed. The findings also indicate that the older the CEO, the greater engagement in IR disclosure, although long-tenured CEOs are associated with lower involvement in IR disclosure. However, well-educated CEOs and good financial expertise are insignificantly related to IR-related information. The study’s findings may be useful for policymakers, regulators, company managers, investors, and researchers interested in improving IR practices.