ESG Disclosure – Glossary
Glossary of Terms
Board Composition: Refers to the makeup of a company’s board, including the mix of executive and non-executive directors, gender diversity, and expertise.
Board Diligence: Relates to the conscientiousness and attentiveness with which board activities are conducted, often measured by the frequency and thoroughness of board meetings.
Board Diversity: The variety within a board in terms of gender, ethnicity, age, and professional background, contributing to a broader perspective in decision-making processes.
Board Size: Refers to the number of individuals serving on a board of directors, which can affect the board’s effectiveness and governance quality.
BRICS: An acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
ESG Disclosure: The practice of disclosing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices and performance to stakeholders, which can influence investor decisions and public perception.
Governance: The framework of rules, practices, and processes by which a company is directed and controlled, focusing on balancing the interests of a company’s many stakeholders, such as shareholders, management, customers, suppliers, financiers, government, and the community.
Independence: Often refers to board members (typically non-executive directors) who do not have material or pecuniary relationships with the company or its management, which could influence or impair their decision-making.
Methodology: Refers to the system of methods used in a particular area of study or activity; in the context of the paper, it involves the research methods and analytical techniques used to explore the impact of board characteristics on ESG disclosure.
Rating; Generally involves evaluating or assessing something within established criteria. In the context of ESG, ratings assess a company’s adherence to and performance in environmental, social, and governance aspects.
Regression; A statistical process for estimating the relationships among variables. It is used in the paper to understand how dependent and independent variables interact, such as the relationship between board characteristics and ESG disclosure levels.
Stakeholders: Individuals or groups that have an interest in any decision or activity of an organization. In corporate governance, stakeholders include shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers, and the broader community.
Theoretical: Pertaining to or based on theory, providing a general explanation for observations made over time, tested in terms of their applicability, validity, and predictive power.
Variability: The quality of being subject to variation or changes. In the context of the paper, it may refer to the differences in ESG disclosure practices among different companies or over time within the same company.