The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on corporate disclosure. An Empirical Analysis in the Perspective of Integrated Reporting
The serious consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on different business contexts have also attracted the attention of academics, interested in exploring the changes undergone by business management in light of this catastrophic event. In particular, an important strand of the literature has focused attention on the changes undergone by corporate disclosure. However, limited attention has still been paid to this topic and there is little knowledge of the factors capable of influencing the integration of information relating to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic within corporate disclosure. This study aims to fill this important gap by analyzing the level of integration of information relating to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on company management within integrated reports and the factors capable of determining the inclusion of such information. In particular, among the different types of determinants, this study focuses attention on governance aspects by examining the role played by the characteristics of the board of directors. The econometric analysis, conducted on a sample of 116 European companies, shows first of all a very low level of integration of information relating to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on company management within integrated reports. In addition, it demonstrates that some characteristics of the board of directors such as size, independence, gender diversity and average age have a positive impact on the level of COVID-19 disclosure. This study offers important theoretical and practical implications.
Keywords: Consiglio di amministrazione; COVID-19; Disclosure; Integrated Reporting; Teoria dell’agenzia
