English Abstract
Abstract :
This research aims to examine the impact of audit committee characteristics on the
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance of listed banks in the Gulf
Cooperation Council (GCC) region. This study analyzes data from 54 banks across the
six GCC countries—namely, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar,
Kuwait, and Oman—covering the period from 2018 to 2022. Data were collected from
the Refinitiv Eikon platform and Annual Reports, and an Ordinary Least Squares (OLS)
linear Multiple Regression Model was employed for the analysis. The paper empirically
investigates how specific characteristics of audit committees, such as independence,
expertise, size, and frequency of meetings, influence ESG performance. The results
indicate that the expertise, size, and number of meetings of the audit committee
significantly positively affect ESG performance. In contrast, the independence of the
audit committee shows no significant impact. This study contributes to the literature by
providing empirical evidence on the influence of audit committee characteristics on
ESG performance in the GCC region. Additionally, it highlights the need for regulatory
bodies, policymakers, practitioners, and corporate boards of directors in the GCC
region and other developing countries to prioritize Corporate Governance (CG)
enforcement and to increase corporate pressures related to disclosing ESG activities.
