Navigating Corporate Integrity: Anti‐Corruption Reporting, Board Cultural Diversity, and <scp>ESG</scp> ‐Sustainability Performance in <scp>FTSE</scp> 350 Companies

ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to study the potential effect on a firm's sustainability performance (S_P) of its pledge to disclose its efforts to curb corruption. We also intend to explore whether board cultural diversity (BCD) drives this correlation. We employed multiple regression models that account for a diverse set of explanatory factors and include 4675 firm‐year observations of FTSE 350 index‐listed companies from 2005 to 2021. These models ensure constant estimates and alleviate potential biases while investigating the fundamental associations. The outcomes of this paper offer significant support for the notion that businesses' anti‐corruption disclosure (A_CD) is associated with their sustainability performance. Additionally, the present paper's outcomes assert that the level of cultural diversity present on the board can efficiently compensate for the lack of transparency regarding anti‐corruption measures, thus contributing to enhanced sustainability performance. Following sensitivity analysis and an endogeneity check to account for probable endogeneity, these outcomes remain valid. Our research highlights the pragmatic ramifications for institutions, governing bodies, and decision‐makers, while also recommending a multitude of instructions for subsequent studies.