Determinants and Consequences of Human Capital Management Disclosure

Abstract

Despite increasing attention to firms’ human capital management (HCM), scant large-scale empirical evidence exists regarding the determinants and consequences of HCM disclosures. I develop HCM disclosure transparency measures, using a recent machine learning technique (the word embedding model), and hypothesize that heightened awareness of social-oriented considerations and operational-oriented competitiveness drive HCM disclosure incentives. I find that firms disclose more about their social-oriented HCM information but less about operational-oriented HCM information when product market competition is high. Exploiting reductions in import tariff rates as exogenous variation in product market competition, I document a causal link between market competition and HCM disclosures. Further evidence shows that social-oriented disclosures improve social performance ratings and attract sustainable investors. However, I only find that more operational-oriented HCM disclosures are associated with higher subsequent shareholder value. Taken together, my findings suggest that social-oriented HCM disclosures satisfy investors’ information demand and operational-oriented HCM information reflects value-enhancing HCM practices.