Voluntary employee reporting by the wholesale and retail companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange

Abstract

Using stakeholder theory, this article investigates the level, subject types, location and determinants of voluntary employee disclosures in the annual reports of the wholesale and retail companies in South Africa listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). It finds that the levels of voluntary employee disclosures have increased over the sampled period and that this trend is headed by Massmart. In addition, this paper finds that the degree of disclosure of various subject types does not stay the same over time, and that most of these disclosures are presented in the sustainability report section of the annual reports. Further findings indicate that sampled companies with significant executive director shareholding engage in less voluntary employee disclosure than companies with lower executive director shareholding. Lastly, another finding indicates that a high BEE rating score for companies is significantly associated with high voluntary employee disclosures.