Misreporting of Mandatory ESG Disclosures: Evidence from Gender Pay Gap Information

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bailey, Mckenna; Glaeser, Stephen; Omartian, James D.; Raghunandan, Aneesh
• 署名单位: University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Chapel Hill; University of North Carolina School of Medicine; Yale University
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2024.05125
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: Corporate social responsibility (CSR); environmental; social; and governance (ESG); ESG washing; diversity washing; gender pay gap; gender representation

摘要

We examine environmental, social, and governance (ESG) misreporting in the context of the UK government requirement to report gender employment ratios and pay gaps. Highlighting misreporting, many employers report a set of disclosures that are together mathematically impossible. Further, a disproportionate number of employers report perfectly balanced gender statistics, consistent with misreporting as a form of ESGwashing. Suggesting that a lack of ethical considerations encourages misreporting, employers involved in ESG controversies and who commit labor violations are more likely to misreport. Suggesting that capital market and media scrutiny discourage misreporting, employers that are the subject of an article about their gender pay gap reports and employers that receive an ESG audit or financial audit from a Big 4 auditor are less likely to misreport. Overall, our results suggest that 12%-15% of employers misreport in 2017 and 8%-11% misreport in subsequent years. Our findings highlight the importance of meaningful oversight within the context of ESG reporting.