ASSURANCE QUALITY OF SUSTAINABILITY REPORTS: EXAMINING THE ROLE OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

The objective of this study is to understand the role of various corporate governance components in the assurance quality of sustainability reports in an emerging country context. The data comprise 56 firm-year observations representing 20 unique firms from Türkiye for the period 2010–2020 available at the Thomson Reuters Eikon database. Drawing on stakeholder-agency theory, the regression analysis indicates that the size of the board, the frequency of board meetings, and the percentage of female executive members increase the assurance quality of sustainability reports. The findings further suggest that by governing these corporate mechanisms, regulatory bodies can reinforce the overall quality of sustainability report assurance. Finally, this study makes a major contribution to advancing the understanding of corporate governance in emerging markets.