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Sustainability assurance and assurance providers: Corporate governance determinants in stakeholder-oriented countries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 January 2017

Jennifer Martínez-Ferrero  and
Isabel-María García-Sánchez
Jennifer Martínez-Ferrero*
Affiliation:
Instituto Multidisciplinar de Empresa (IME), Universidad de Salamanca, Campus Miguel de Unamuno, FES, Salamanca, Spain
Isabel-María García-Sánchez
Affiliation:
Instituto Multidisciplinar de Empresa (IME), Universidad de Salamanca, Campus Miguel de Unamuno, FES, Salamanca, Spain
*
Corresponding author: jenny_marfe@usal.es
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Abstract

This paper examines the effect of corporate governance mechanisms on companies’ decision to assure their sustainability reports and their choice of assurance provider in countries with a greater stakeholder orientation. The corporate governance factors analyzed are related to the strength of the board’s monitoring function, which is determined by the size, independence and activity of the sustainability committee. The international sample consists of 610 companies operating in countries that are more stakeholder oriented from the period 2007–2014. We propose alternative logit models of analysis using the random effects estimator. Consistently with our propositions, our results provide evidence that a firm’s sustainability assurance and its choice of the accounting profession are positively associated with board independence and the activity of the sustainability committee. In addition, the empirical evidence obtained shows a U-shaped relationship between the board size and assurance issues.

Keywords

assuranceassurance providerboard of directorscorporate governancestakeholder-oriented countries
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 23 , Issue 5 , September 2017 , pp. 647 - 670
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2017 

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