ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Board Independence and Corporate Water
Disclosure: The Role of Board Diversity
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1
Business School, Shanxi Technology and Business College, 99 Wucheng South Road, Xiaodian District,
Taiyuan, Shanxi 030000, China
2
School of Business, Western Sydney University, 169 Macquarie Street, Parramatta, NSW 2150, Australia
3
School of Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, University of New South Wales, Room 3005,
Quadrangle Building, UNSW, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia
4
School of Geography and Tourism, Anhui Normal University, 189 Jiuhua South Road, Wuhu, Anhui 241002, China
5
Business College of Beijing Union University, A3, Yanjingdongli, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100025, China
Submission date: 2023-01-27
Final revision date: 2023-05-23
Acceptance date: 2023-06-23
Online publication date: 2023-09-13
Publication date: 2023-10-25
Corresponding author
Jia Jia
Business College of Beijing Union University, A3, Yanjingdongli, Chaoyang District, 100025, Beijing, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2023;32(6):5319-5332
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ABSTRACT
With the contemporary prevalence of global environmental issues, academic attention to companies’
water responsibilities is increasing. Therefore, we investigate Forbes Global 2000 listed multinational
corporations (MNCs) water disclosure via content analysis and empirically test the impact of board
independence on corporate water disclosure and the moderating effect of board diversity. Our results
show that board independence significantly promotes MNCs’ water disclosure, the moderating effect
of board gender diversity is positive, and the joint moderating effect of board diversity is also positive.
This study emphasizes the importance of board independence and board diversity in enhancing
a company’s water responsibility and extends the application of stakeholder theory to the corporate
water responsibility field. Moreover, suggestions for policymakers and MNCs to promote corporate
water responsibility are provided.