Variables collected
| Variable | Measurement | Collection method |
|---|---|---|
| Dependent variables | ||
| Financial performance | Price-to-book ratio | IRESS (financial database) |
| Sustainability performance | The Environmental and Social component scores of the ESG score calculated by LSEG Workspace (2023); environmental performance (E) is the ‘impact on living and non-living natural systems’ and social performance (S) is ‘a company’s capacity to generate trust and loyalty with its workforce, customers and society’ | LSEG Workspace (financial database) |
| Independent variables of interest | ||
| Gender diversity | Number of women on the board divided by number of board members | Hand collected from integrated reports |
| Racial diversity | Number of black people on the board divided by number of board members | Hand collected from integrated reports |
| Age diversity | Number of age bands (under 30, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, 60–69, 70–79, and 80 and above) represented on the board | Hand collected from integrated reports |
| Occupation diversity | Number of occupational categories (accounting and finance, arts, engineering, journalism, medical/healthcare, law, other business and management, other sciences, other social sciences and statistical/mathematical/computer science backgrounds) represented on the board | Hand collected from integrated reports |
| Diversity index | A composite index measuring board diversity of a specific company in relation to average board diversity of the sample in a specific year. Calculated as (gender diversityi,t/average gender diversityt + racial diversityi,t/average racial diversityt + age diversityi,t/average age diversityt + occupation diversityi,t/average occupation diversityt)/4 | Calculated |
| Control variables | ||
| Board size | Number of board members | Hand collected from integrated reports |
| Board independence | Number of independent non-executive directors divided by board size | Hand collected from integrated reports |
| Leverage | Debt to assets ratio | IRESS |
| Company size | Log of total assets | Collected from IRESS |
| Sales growth | Percentage growth in sales from prior year to current year | IRESS |
| Institutional ownership | Percentage institutional ownership | Hand collected from integrated reports |
| Accounting performance | Return of assets (ROA) | IRESS |
| Industry | Industry classification | Per JSE |
| Listing type | 0 if primary listing on JSE, 1 if secondary listing | Per JSE |
| After King IV | 0 if financial year is 2015 or 2016 (pre-King IV period) | Hand collected from integrated reports |
| 1 if financial year is 2018 or 2019 (post-King IV period) | ||
| Blank if financial year is 2017 (transitional year) | ||
| Variable | Measurement | Collection method |
|---|---|---|
| Financial performance | Price-to-book ratio | IRESS (financial database) |
| Sustainability performance | The Environmental and Social component scores of the ESG score calculated by LSEG Workspace (2023); environmental performance (E) is the ‘impact on living and non-living natural systems’ and social performance (S) is ‘a company’s capacity to generate trust and loyalty with its workforce, customers and society’ | LSEG Workspace (financial database) |
| Gender diversity | Number of women on the board divided by number of board members | Hand collected from integrated reports |
| Racial diversity | Number of black people on the board divided by number of board members | Hand collected from integrated reports |
| Age diversity | Number of age bands (under 30, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, 60–69, 70–79, and 80 and above) represented on the board | Hand collected from integrated reports |
| Occupation diversity | Number of occupational categories (accounting and finance, arts, engineering, journalism, medical/healthcare, law, other business and management, other sciences, other social sciences and statistical/mathematical/computer science backgrounds) represented on the board | Hand collected from integrated reports |
| Diversity index | A composite index measuring board diversity of a specific company in relation to average board diversity of the sample in a specific year. Calculated as (gender diversityi,t/average gender diversityt + racial diversityi,t/average racial diversityt + age diversityi,t/average age diversityt + occupation diversityi,t/average occupation diversityt)/4 | Calculated |
| Board size | Number of board members | Hand collected from integrated reports |
| Board independence | Number of independent non-executive directors divided by board size | Hand collected from integrated reports |
| Leverage | Debt to assets ratio | IRESS |
| Company size | Log of total assets | Collected from IRESS |
| Sales growth | Percentage growth in sales from prior year to current year | IRESS |
| Institutional ownership | Percentage institutional ownership | Hand collected from integrated reports |
| Accounting performance | Return of assets (ROA) | IRESS |
| Industry | Industry classification | Per JSE |
| Listing type | 0 if primary listing on JSE, 1 if secondary listing | Per JSE |
| After King IV | 0 if financial year is 2015 or 2016 (pre-King IV period) | Hand collected from integrated reports |
| 1 if financial year is 2018 or 2019 (post-King IV period) | ||
| Blank if financial year is 2017 (transitional year) | ||
Sharing content requires targeting cookies to be enabled. Please update your cookie preferences to use this feature.