Corporate governance, national governance quality, and biodiversity reporting: Global evidence

We explore the effects of corporate governance and national governance quality on corporate biodiversity reporting and investigate whether national governance quality moderates the relationship between corporate governance and biodiversity reporting practices. Using a sample of global firms across 36 countries for the 2009 to 2020 period, we find that the overall quality of corporate governance and individual governance dimensions, such as management effectiveness, corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices, and shareholder treatment are positively associated with biodiversity reporting. Our results suggest that firms operating in countries with strong national governance systems tend to disseminate extensive biodiversity information. We also find that national governance quality positively moderates the relationships of CSR practices and shareholder treatment with biodiversity reporting practices, but has no impact on the link between management effectiveness and biodiversity reporting. Our findings have a number of implications for regulators, policymakers, and organizational stakeholders. Overall, our results support the dynamic capabilities view in that internal and external governance mechanisms/systems can motivate and compel boards of directors and management teams to develop dynamic capabilities, engage in sustainability practices, and enhance biodiversity transparency.