sustainability Article Firm and Board Characteristics, and E-Waste Disclosure: A Study in the Era of Digitalisation Hafizah Abd-Mutalib * , Che Zuriana Muhammad Jamil, Rapiah Mohamed, Nor Atikah Shafai and Saidatul Nurul Hidayah Jannatun Naim Nor-Ahmad   Citation: Abd-Mutalib, H.; Muhammad Jamil, C.Z.; Mohamed, R.; Shafai, N.A.; Nor-Ahmad, S.N.H.J.N. Firm and Board Characteristics, and E-Waste Disclosure: A Study in the Era of Digitalisation. Sustainability 2021, 13, 10417. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su131810417 Academic Editor: Manuela Tvaronaviciene Received: 31 August 2021 Accepted: 15 September 2021 Published: 18 September 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy, College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok 06010, Kedah, Malaysia; zuriana@uum.edu.my (C.Z.M.J.); rapiah@uum.edu.my (R.M.); noratikah@uum.edu.my (N.A.S.); saidatul@uum.edu.my (S.N.H.J.N.N.-A.) * Correspondence: amhafizah@uum.edu.my Abstract: Business sectors face the advent of digitalisation, bringing attention to e-waste, or waste generated from obsolete electrical and electronic appliances. In addressing this issue, the study intends to examine e-waste disclosure by Bursa Malaysia listed firms. Specifically, this study investi- gates the extent and quality of e-waste disclosure, observes whether the reporting differs between industries and the boards on which the firms are listed, and investigates if e-waste disclosure is associ- ated with firm and board characteristics. A total of 92 firms in the telecommunication and technology industries, listed on the Main and Ace boards of Bursa Malaysia, were selected as samples. The results reveal that despite an indication that e-waste reporting applies to the two sectors, only 16% of the firms report their commitment to managing e-waste. The disclosure shows how e-waste reporting is low in quantity and is circulated with only very general, qualitative information. An independent sample t-test reveals that firms listed on the Main board report significantly more e-waste information than their counterparts. Another t-test indicates an insignificant difference in e-waste disclosure between the firms under study. Furthermore, firm size significantly impacts e-waste disclosure, while firm performance, board size, and board gender diversity show insignificant impact. The results of this preliminary study shed some light on business firms’ commitment towards their e-waste management and reporting, which is a substantial factor for Malaysia to achieve environmental sustainability. Keywords: e-waste; disclosure; digitalisation; annual reports; Malaysia 1. Introduction Digitalisation has brought many benefits to business organisations [1]. By leveraging digital technology, firms may enjoy efficiency in business transactions [2,3], may be enabled to develop more products and enter new markets at lower costs [4], may enjoy increased competitive advantage [5], and, in the long-run, greater profitability [6]. Despite these benefits, digitalisation has also been found to negatively affect the environment [7]. Among the environmental issues that receive much attention in the digitalisation era is the waste from electrical and electronic appliances (e-waste) [8]. In the digitalisation age, where information may be retrieved with the point of a finger, the use of electrical and electronic appliances has increased exponentially [9]. These appli- ances contain components that are usually filled with toxic materials and heavy metals such as mercury, lead, and brominated flame retardants that are considered hazardous under the Basel Convention. When these appliances reach the end of their useful life (referred to as e-waste), the toxic components that are not properly disposed of will eventually end up in landfills. Toxic and hazardous chemicals will be generated through open burning, or by permeating the soil, thus endangering human health and the environment. Improperly managed e-waste results in soil, atmospheric and aquatic contamination [8,10], which poses a threat to humans, animals and plants [10]. Within humans, exposure to e-waste leads Sustainability 2021, 13, 10417. https://doi.org/10.3390/su131810417 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability