Board gender diversity and the intellectual capital efficiency-ESG disclosure nexus in Indonesian firms

This study examines whether intellectual capital efficiency is associated with environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure and whether board gender diversity (BGD) moderates this association among Indonesian non-financial listed firms. Using 501 firm-year observations from 2015 to 2023, the study employs fixed-effects panel regression with Driscoll–Kraay standard errors, two-stage least squares (2SLS) robustness tests, and firm-size subsample analyses. The results reveal a negative association between aggregate intellectual capital efficiency and ESG disclosure, although this association is not consistently observed in the small-firm subsample. Component-level analyses indicate negative associations for innovation capital efficiency, capital employed efficiency, and human capital efficiency, whereas the associations for relational and structural capital efficiency are less robust across alternative specifications and firm-size subsamples. The moderating role of BGD is likewise component specific, strengthening the negative association between aggregate intellectual capital efficiency and ESG disclosure, although this moderating effect is not consistently observed among large firms. These findings suggest that, in the Indonesian emerging-market context, greater intellectual capital efficiency does not necessarily translate into greater ESG disclosure. Instead, this negative association is context specific, reflecting relatively discretionary ESG disclosure. Moreover, BGD strengthens, rather than mitigates, this negative association, challenging conventional governance expectations in emerging-market settings.