Board Characteristics and Environmental Disclosure: Evidence from Jordan

Abstract

This paper focuses on the relationship between the characteristics of the board of directors and the environmental disclosure in the industrial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange in Jordan for the period of 2014-2017. A total of 63 industrial companies were studied using three variables: the board size,board independence,board ownership, in addition to the control variable firm size.In order to achieve the objectives of the study, a measure of the level of environmental disclosure was used in the annual reports of the companies under study. The present study was based on the panel data to test the hypotheses of the study. The study found that the general trend of the level of environmental disclosure during the years (2014-2017) was increase. This is as a result of increasing awareness among Jordanian industrial companies of the importance of environmental disclosure. The level of environmental disclosure is still relatively low compared to developed countries. The study also found a positive relationship between the board size, the board ownership, the firm size and the level of environmental disclosure.