Information Technology Expertise and Environmental, Social, and Governance Activities

SYNOPSIS One impediment to environment, social, and governance (ESG) activities is the acquisition and promulgation of high-quality ESG information within a firm. One way to potentially advance the role of information technology (IT) surrounding ESG activities is through the IT expertise of executives and board of directors. Greater IT expertise could strategically improve information collection and quality within the firm, benefiting the ESG information environment by reducing information asymmetry and information processing costs. Through facilitating greater availability of ESG information, we expect and find that IT expertise is positively associated with ESG activities. We find that CEO IT expertise is positively associated with governance activities, whereas having a technology committee on the board is positively associated with environment, social, and governance activities. Our study provides a greater understanding of the benefits of IT expertise on ESG reporting.