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The adoption of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)-linked executive remuneration and the role of gender diversity

Tea Golja

Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja2026https://doi.org/10.32728/er-ei.38.4.7article
AJG 1
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

This paper investigates how Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles are integrated into executive remuneration systems and examines whether the inclusion of ESG-related performance criteria is associated with the gender composition of management boards in large Croatian listed companies. The purpose of the study is to enhance understanding of how sustainability goals and gender diversity are reflected in executive compensation practices within a post-transition EU economy. The research applies a mixed-method design combining (1) descriptivetrend analysis of board gender composition for the 2020–2024 period and (2) directed qualitative content analysis of remuneration policies to identify the presence and type of ESG indicators. The paper is structured into five sections: introduction, literature review, methodology, results with discussion, and conclusion with implications. The findings show a modest increase in female board representation, although men remain dominant throughout the period. ESG-related goals were included in only 54% of company-year observations, with social and governance indicators prevailing, while environmental metrics were almost absent. The analysis identifies a moderatenegative correlation between female representation and the inclusion of ESG-related criteria in remuneration, suggesting that gender diversity does not serve as a driver of sustainability-linked pay in this context. The results indicate that Croatian companies have only partially aligned their remuneration practices with EU sustainability expectations and often apply ESG criteria in a broad, non-measurable form. The study’s findings can support companies in improving the specificity and measurability of ESG indicators in variable remuneration, assist supervisory boards in strengtheningoversight of sustainability-linked pay, and inform policymakers as they refine national ESG reporting and remuneration frameworks.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.32728/er-ei.38.4.7

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@article{tea2026,
  title        = {{The adoption of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)-linked executive remuneration and the role of gender diversity}},
  author       = {Tea Golja},
  journal      = {Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.32728/er-ei.38.4.7},
}

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.