The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to examine the extent and quality of online sustainability disclosure in Portuguese universities, and second, to investigate the impact of a set of corporate governance characteristics on such voluntary disclosure.
This study is based on a content analysis of the sustainability information disclosed by all Portuguese universities on their websites and an ordinary least squares regression to identify whether governing board mechanisms influence such voluntary sustainability disclosure.
The main findings reveal that Portuguese universities show a moderate level of commitment to online sustainability disclosure. The results also indicate that gender diversity (in terms of percentage of women on board and presence of female Rectors) and the existence of a sustainability committee are positively associated with the universities’ sustainability disclosure.
The findings are of interest to university managers who wish to increase the online diffusion of sustainability issues to satisfy stakeholders’ demands and legitimize their actions in society. Likewise, these findings could be useful for policymakers and regulators to standardize sustainability reporting in higher education institutions and to implement policy reforms aimed at increasing the participation of women in university governance roles. They could also help in adopting new legislation encouraging universities to establish a separate sustainability committee to increase their transparency and accountability.
This study extends the understanding of the online sustainability disclosure behaviors of Portuguese universities. Furthermore, drawing upon a multi-theoretical framework, the present study delves into the significant role of university governance – in terms of board composition and attributes of board members – in driving online sustainability disclosure practices.
