2019-Yan Wang

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Board Diversity, Risk Disclosure and Performance in UK Higher Education Institutions

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Co-Investigators: Prof Collins Ntim (University of Southampton), Prof Agyenim Boateng (De Montfort University), Dr Mohamed Elmagrhi (Swansea University)

Project summary: This study investigates the extent to which UK higher education institutions’ (HEIs) voluntarily disclose risk information, and consequently examines the association between governing board diversity, risk disclosure and performance. Using a large sample of 117 UK HEIs over a period of six years, our findings are three-fold. First, the level of risk disclosure is relatively lower than the general disclosure practices reported from prior HEIs’s studies. Second, we find that governing board diversity has significant impact on the level of risk disclosure. For instance, gender diversity of governing board is positively associated with the level of risk disclosure, whereas the age of the governing board is negatively associated with the level of risk disclosure. Third, our findings suggest that governing board diversity influences the non-financial performance rather than the financial performance of HEIs. The findings will be useful to senior management teams, employees/student unions and policy-makers in terms of promoting diversity in HEIs and also informing future policies.