Diversity of Board of Directors and Environmental Social Governance: Evidence from Italian Listed Companies Nicola Cucari, * Salvatore Esposito De Falco and Beatrice Orlando Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy ABSTRACT This study investigates the association between environmental, social, and governance (ESG) dis- closure and diversity of the board of directors (BoD) in Italian listed companies. Diversity of BoD in terms of gender diversity, CSR committees, board average, and independent directors are ex- amined as to their influence on voluntary ESG disclosure. This rating is highly relevant to man- agers and investors considering ESG issues in their decision-making process. The factors that drive or hinder ESG disclosure are gaining importance. Despite the relevance of the topic, in Italy there is a scarce amount of literature regarding diversity in the BoD. The data set includes ESG data for more than 54 Italian companies for the period 2011–2014. The results indicate that firm’s CSR disclosure is associated with independent director and committee CSR. In addition, women on BoDs is negatively correlated while the age of the board is not significant. Based on this study, shareholders and policymakers will have a deeper knowledge on the significant roles that board diversity is playing as a determinant of ESG disclosure. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Received 14 December 2016; revised 9 July 2017; accepted 27 July 2017 Keywords: corporate governance; board of directors; corporate social responsibility; disclosure; diversity; ESG Introduction E CONOMIC RESULT IS NOT THE ONLY CRITERION BY WHICH FIRMS ARE VALUED ON THE MARKET; ‘SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL OUT- comes are increasingly being taken into account’ (Setó-Pamies, 2015: 335). Stakeholders’ interest regards both purely financial concerns and environmental, social, and governance concerns, too (Ferrero-Ferrero et al., 2015; Jitmaneeroj, 2016). Empirical studies have shown that better corporate governance is highly correlated with better market evaluation and operating performance (Zahra & Pearce, 1989); and that ownership structure, board composition, and financial factors affect corporate disclosure (Eng & Mak, 2003; Ortas et al., 2015; Jizi, 2017). *Correspondence to: Nicola Cucari, Sapienza University, Department of Management, Castro Laurenziano 9, Rome 00185, Italy. E-mail: nicola.cucari@uniroma1.it Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management Corp. Soc. Responsib. Environ. Mgmt. 2017 Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/csr.1452