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The Role of Gender Equality at the Country Level on the Relationship Between Women’s Board Representation and Sustainability Assurance Adoption

Author

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  • Kholod F. Alsahali

    (Department of Business Administration, Jubail Industrial College, Al-Jubayl 35718, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of gender equality in the relationship between the critical mass of women’s representation on boards and companies’ decisions to adopt external assurance on their sustainability reports. Design and methodology: The relationship is investigated using secondary data from an international sample of 1924 firms across 41 countries sourced from the Eikon database, ensuring comprehensive coverage of firms that publish sustainability reports. The study uses a logistic regression model to study two aspects: first, the relationship between the critical mass of women’s representation on boards and companies’ decisions to provide external assurance on their sustainability reports, and second, the moderating role of countries’ gender equality policies using the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law (WBL) index. Findings: The findings of this study indicate that in the case of sustainability assurance adoption, the critical mass of women’s representation on boards is important in countries where the gender equality index is low. Therefore, this study extends the findings of prior studies investigating the critical mass of women’s representation on boards by proving that critical mass is more effective in countries that have a lower gender equality index. Originality: The two main contributions of this study are the findings that (i) the association of women’s representation on boards with companies’ decisions to provide assurance over their sustainability reports is affected by critical mass, and (ii) the critical mass of women’s representation on boards is essential in countries that have a lower gender equality index.

Suggested Citation

  • Kholod F. Alsahali, 2025. "The Role of Gender Equality at the Country Level on the Relationship Between Women’s Board Representation and Sustainability Assurance Adoption," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 18(2), pages 1-13, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:18:y:2025:i:2:p:87-:d:1584017
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Warren Maroun & Andre Prinsloo, 2020. "Drivers of combined assurance in a sustainable development context: Evidence from integrated reports," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(8), pages 3702-3719, December.
    2. Abdulaziz A. Alomran & Kholod F. Alsahali, 2023. "The Role of Long-Term Institutional Ownership in Sustainability Report Assurance: Global Evidence," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-17, February.
    3. Cosma, Simona & Galletta, Simona & Mazzù, Sebastiano & Rimo, Giuseppe, 2024. "Banks' fossil fuel divestment and corporate governance: The role of board gender diversity," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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