[1H4-OS-5a] OS-5

4:25 PM - 4:40 PM JST(7:25 AM - 7:40 AM UTC)

[1H4-OS-5a-04] ESG Incidents and the Visual Representation of People in Corporate Integrated Reports

〇EIJI SAKIHAMA^1,4, Iwata Tsuyoshi^2,3 (1. Meiji University, 2. RepRisk AG, 3. University of Zurich, 4. AG plus inc.)

Keywords:

ESG Risk,Computer Vision,Visual Representation Analysis,Non-financial disclosure,RepRisk

This study examines how ESG incidents are reflected in gendered visual representation in integrated reports and how foreign ownership moderates these relationships. Using image-based face detection and attribute inference from Japanese firms’ integrated reports in 2023–2024, we construct firm-year measures of women’s visual prominence, the share of pages featuring any female, and the share of female-only pages for 359 firms. We estimate sector fixed-effects models relating these outcomes to lagged ESG incidents—environmental, diversity-related, and social—interacted with standardized foreign ownership, controlling for firm size and report length. The results show that foreign ownership systematically conditions firms’ visual responses to ESG incidents. Environmental incidents are associated with increased female visibility and prominence when foreign ownership is high, whereas diversity and social incidents are associated with a reduction in female-only visual emphasis. These findings indicate that visual disclosure is a strategic component of ESG communication shaped by investor composition. Practically, the results suggest that firms should design visual narratives with careful attention to stakeholder structure, as gender representation may be interpreted as symbolic or misleading under heightened external scrutiny.