Human Resource Disclosure Research Articles

Global financial crisis and relevance of GRI disclosure in Italy. Insights from the stakeholder theory and the legitimacy theory

In this study, we examine the effects of voluntary disclosure on the market value of Italian-listed companies adopting GRI guidelines, interpreting our results in the light of both stakeholder theory and legitimacy theory. From a methodological viewpoint, an index is used to measure the level of disclosure of human resources and environmental information. We consider a sample of firms listed on the Milan Stock Exchange for an eleven-year period (2004-2014). The period chosen gave us the opportunity to assess the value-relevance of environmental and social information before and during the Global Financial Crisis. We supplement the previous literature on the topic of the relationship between social and environmental disclosure and value-relevance by arguing that sustainability tools have to be evaluated, remembering that they express a notion of value in the long term and provide information to a large number of stakeholders. Our findings show that environmental information is only value-relevant during the crisis period, when the shareholder perspective comes more into line with other stakeholder perspectives because they are seeking a middle-to-long run notion of value. Finally, we find that a high level of GRI information disclosure is positively evaluated by investors; this result is important also because it was obtained in the Italian market which is largely considered inefficient, and thus it supports the urgent need to provide high-quality information in each type of market.

Human resources disclosure among companies in Czechia

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to investigate voluntary human resources disclosure (hereinafter referred to as “HR disclosure”) by the largest companies domiciled in Czechia. The key research questions are: What is the quantity of disclosure on various topics related to HR? Is there a significant difference in the quantity of HR disclosure between companies? Which factors influence the quantity of HR disclosure?Design/methodology/approachA quantitative content analysis (CA) of annual reports of the 50 largest companies domiciled in Czechia was used. An established coding scheme is used to code annual reports, and subsequently, various statistical methods (descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, multiple linear regression) are used to answer the key research questions.FindingsPrimarily, social information is reported (what a company does for its employees) as information on the contribution of employees to the company’s value is rudimentary. Secondly, there is a significant difference in the quantity of HR disclosure between companies. Finally, the findings of the regression analysis confirm the impact of presence on the stock exchange and size and on the quantity of HR disclosure.Research limitations/implicationsThe annual reports of 50 companies from one country are analysed. The study provides a basis for further research.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study may inspire companies to improve their HR disclosure, while policymakers should consider imposing more concrete demands on HR disclosure.Originality/valueQuantitative CA research into the HR disclosure of companies domiciled in Czechia is nearly non-existent. This study fills this gap.

Impact of corporate characteristics on human resource disclosures

Purpose Human resource (HR) disclosures are voluntary in nature in most countries including India. The voluntary nature of HR disclosures results in discrepancy in the HR disclosure practices across companies and industries. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of HR disclosures in annual reports of Indian listed companies and to identify their determinants in a three stage analysis. Design/methodology/approach In the first stage a 16 item human resource disclosure index (HRDI) has been constructed for the set of CNX 200 companies listed on National Stock Exchange. Thereafter the effect of various independent variables on HRDI is analysed descriptively. Finally in the third stage HRDI has been regressed against the independent variables using regression analysis technique to identify key determinants of HRDI. Findings The research reveals that there is high variation among sample companies as regard HRDI. The results of descriptive analysis, correlation analysis and multivariate regression analysis establish that government’s participation in ownership and market capitalisation has positive significant effect on HRDI at 1 per cent, presence of separate HR directors committee, presence of more independent directors on board at 5 per cent and cross-list America and profit after tax at 10 per cent level. Implicitly HRDI is positively affected by size of company as measured by market capitalisation. Though contrary to expectations, other variables leverage, number of employees, assets, ownership concentration, type of auditor, age, complexity of business structure, employee expense to total operating expense ratio, industry affiliation, foreign investment and proportion of non-executive directors on board are found to have moderate though insignificant influence on HRDI. Research limitations/implications Cross-sectional design, dependence on annual reports as a primary document for disclosure and subjectivity in HRDI construction are the main limitations of the research. A longitudinal study may be carried to study the pattern of HR disclosures in future. Weighted ranking of different items of disclosures may be studied to improve the understanding of extent of disclosures. Practical implications The HRDI as constructed in the research may be used as a benchmark by companies to improve their HR disclosures. It can also be used by accounting bodies and company regulators while deciding about standards regarding HR disclosures. Investors can also use HR disclosures made by a company as a basis to understand its financial standing and future potentials. Originality/value The study adds to the existing literature by developing 16 item HRDI to measure the extent of disclosures by listed companies in India and thereafter by including some new propositions in the determinants of HRDI have never been tested in the existing studies. These propositions are government’s participation in ownership, separate HR committee of directors, board composition and foreign activity. These propositions have been empirically validated in this research except for foreign activity.

Indian companies ignoring HR issues

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of corporate disclosure on human resources (HR) in the annual reports of top-performing Indian companies. Design/methodology/approach The paper explores the extent to which top 82 companies from India present information about HR in their annual reports. This paper examines the annual reports of each of the top Indian firms listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, using the “content analysis” method. Statistical tests have been performed to analyze the difference between the HR disclosure score across public and private sectors and disclosure variations among various industrial sectors. Findings In-house training programmers has been noticed to be the favorite item of disclosure followed by safety awards/certifications and statements regarding cordial relations with the employees/unions. A majority of the Indian firms have ignored significant HR issues such as employee welfare fund, maternity/paternity leaves, holiday benefits, employee loans, adopting old age homes, etc. Overall, the paper reflects low HR-related disclosures. Originality/value This is the first paper on the disclosure of HR by the Indian corporate sector in the CSR domain with a disclosure analysis for a period of nine years. This paper provides new directions for the literature in this area and may promote comparative studies on HR-based studies from different perspectives.

PROVIDERS AND USERS’ PERCEPTION OF VOLUNTARY NEED OF HUMAN RESOURCE DISCLOSURE: A CONTENT ANALYSIS

This paper is concerned with the relationship between the information disclosed and providers and users of human resource disclosures in advanced annual reporting practices. It aims to provide a comprehensive review of previous disclosure literatures which had been emphasising on information disclosed and providers and users of human resources in separate accounts. The primary purpose of this paper is thus, to expand on the knowledge about human resource disclosure practices and to contribute to a better understanding of this by possibly, reducing the deficiencies noted between providers and users of voluntary human resource disclosures.

Social and Environmental Disclosure in Corporate Annual Reports: Evidence from Kuwait

With the lack of empirical research in voluntary disclosure in the Middle East area, the present study aims at investigating and evaluating corporate social and environmental disclosure (CSED) practices in Kuwait. To achieve this objective, a checklist of 25 social and environmental disclosure items was developed. These items were then classified into four categories: human resources, environmental activities, community involvement and product/service related information. Using content analysis, the 25 disclosure items were applied to the annual reports of a sample of 43 companies listed in Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE). It was found that the overall disclosure level for the sample companies is 21%. The disclosure level varies by disclosure category. Product/service related information achieved the highest disclosure level (43%), while human resources disclosure comes second (25%). Little attention was given to disclosing information related to community and environment, with a disclosure level of 16% and 8% respectively. These results suggested that there is a significant scope for additional social and environmental disclosure in the annual reports of Kuwaiti companies. Issuing regulations and guidelines on CSED is needed to motivate Kuwaiti companies to improve their social and environmental disclosures.Int. J. Soc. Sci. Manage. Vol-3, issue-1: 8-16

Voluntary Human Resource Disclosure Practices of Selected Listed Indian IT Firms

During the previous two decades Indian economy has shown a tremendous improvement due to emergence of various knowledge based industries. In such industries, firms recognize people as a key resource to gain competitive edge over their peers. Many firms, especially in Information Technology (IT) sector, view their employees or human capital or human resource (HR) as their most valuable assets and invest heavily on them. Many Indian IT firms voluntarily disclose much more information about their human resources than is mandatorily required by the Indian regulations so as to reduce information asymmetry between the insiders and the outsiders regarding their human resources (Jindal & Kumar, 2012). This study measures the extent of voluntary HR disclosures done by selected listed Indian IT firms in two stages. In the first stage, a 33 items voluntary HR disclosure index was developed based on a detailed review of voluntary disclosure indices used in the existing studies of HR disclosures of firms (Jindal & Kumar, 2012, Murthy & Abeysekera, 2007, Abhayawansa & Abeysekera, 2008) and also based on best practices followed by a few Indian IT firms (Infosys, Wipro etc.). In the second stage, a detailed content analysis of annual reports of twenty firms which were part of CNX IT Index as on Jan 8, 2014 was performed using a CAQDAS software to check the variability/presence or absence of all the Voluntary HR Disclosure Index code items. The results of this study shows that Indian listed IT firms (a) provide loads of information about several aspects of Training and Development programmes for Existing/New Employees (b) provide little information on such crucial matters such as Human Resource Valuation, Compliance with Employment and Labour laws, Geographical distribution of employees, Information regarding Employee Commute, Travel, Medical insurance/reimbursement and Termination Benefits.

The type and quantity of corporate social disclosures of German ‘Universal’ banks

Grounded in legitimacy theory and deductive in nature, this paper uses content analysis of annual report social disclosures of 169 German ‘universal’ banks belonging to three different categories (credit, saving, and cooperative) to report on the type and quantity of social disclosure by these banks, and to test seven hypotheses related to the nature of their social disclosures and their association with size, financial performance, corporate form, and other selected variables. The findings provide evidence of the importance of social disclosure for the German banking sector as a means to legitimize their business and relay to the society the extent of their fulfillment of social obligations. Greater importance is attributed to product and customers as well as human resource disclosures. In addition, a strong positive association is found between these disclosures and the size variables as well as the number of apprentices, whereas ROE and net profits as financial performance proxies provide evidence of a significant relationship. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the quantity of social disclosure varies with bank category, corporate form and listing status, but seems to be almost unrelated to bank age and overseas presence. These promising findings could be used to inform corporate social responsibility policies and practices of German banks; nevertheless, further longitudinal analysis to validate them over time is warranted.

Corporate social responsibility practice and corporate financial performance: evidence from Nigeria companies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the nature and trend of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in Nigeria. The second objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between the dimensions of CSR disclosures and corporate financial performance (CFP) among Nigerian listed companies. Design/methodology/approach – To carry out this research, content analysis was conducted to extract CSR and financial data from annual reports of 68 companies listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange. Financial data were cross-referenced with the NSE Factbook. CSR indexes and financial performance measures were computed for estimation of the regression analysis equation. The percentages were used to describe the nature and trend of CSR practice in Nigeria. This was followed by the hierarchical multiple regression analysis to examine the relationship between CSR and CFP. Findings – The results of the descriptive statistics show that the listed companies used CSR initiatives to communicate social performance to their stakeholders. From the regression analysis, community involvement disclosure, products and customer disclosures and human resource disclosures were found to enhance CFP. The results also reveal a negative relationship between environmental disclosure and CFP, which indicates that disclosure of environmental impact information could be value destroying in Nigeria. Research limitations/implications – The major limitation of this paper is the sample size. Also, failure of corporations to disclose CSR in the annual reports will have a material effect on these findings. Practical implications – The findings of this paper have practical implications on the management of Nigerian companies to re-think and re-strategize their CSR policies that incorporate social and economic performance to improve their CFP. Social implications – This paper has implication on stakeholders in validating the corporate citizenship of corporations based on the level of commitment and participation in CSR initiatives. Also, findings of this paper will alert the enforcement agencies on the status of CSR practices in Nigeria. Government in collaboration with private and public agencies should consider the needs for CSR framework and database to guide social and environmental reporting in the country. Originality/value – The paper has examined the relationship between CSR and CFP based on CSR dimensional approach. Aspect of human resource and products/customers CSR has been neglected in the context of Nigerian CSR research. This paper makes valuable contribution by offering new and fresh insight on these dimensions.

Reporting human resources in annual reports

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of corporate disclosure on human resources (HR) in the annual reports of top performing Indian companies.Design/methodology/approach– The paper explores the extent to which top 82 companies from India present information about HR in their annual reports. This study examines the annual reports of each of the top Indian firms listed on the Bombay stock exchange, using the “content analysis” method. Statistical tests have been performed to analyse the difference between the HR disclosure score across public and private sectors and disclosure variations among various industrial sectors.Findings– In-house training programmes has been noticed to be the favourite item of disclosure followed by safety awards/certifications and statements regarding cordial relations with the employees/unions. A majority of the Indian firms have ignored significant HR issues such as employee welfare fund, maternity/paternity leaves, holiday benefits, employee loans and adopting old age homes, etc. Overall, the study reflects low HR related disclosures. No statistically significant difference has been found between the mean HR disclosure from one industry to another and disclosure practices of the private and the public sector companies.Practical implications– The disclosure pattern of the Indian companies suggests that they only a few companies are concerned about employees’ welfare than the rest. This may motivate a change of the disclosure policy of the rest of the firms who may follow the reporting pattern of the most disclosing ones.Originality/value– This is first study on the disclosure of HR by the Indian corporate sector in the CSR domain with a disclosure analysis for a period of nine years . This research provides new directions for the literature in this area and may promote comparative studies on HR-based studies from different perspectives.

Corporate response to human resource disclosure recommendations

Purpose – This paper aims to study corporate response to intellectual capital and social responsibility disclosure recommendations regarding employees. Such an analysis would reveal which forms of corporate interest induce a company to disclose: reflecting the firm’s value to satisfy priority shareholders’ needs of information or improving the corporate social image to meet the demands of stakeholders other than capital providers. Design/methodology/approach – The paper quantify the extent to which 105 Spanish listed companies present in their annual reports information about employees. Human resource disclosure attending the recommendations of social disclosure and information linked to value creation following the information included in the intellectual capital models are distinguished. A content analysis of 105 companies’ annual reports was conducted. Once the information was quantified, the author considers which theoretical arguments of voluntary/social disclosure motive that a company follows have different recommendations about human resource disclosure. Findings – The findings reflect the existent recommendations are not enough for companies to disclose about human resources. Spanish companies pay more attention to social issues about employee than to others human capital aspects usually integrated in the intellectual capital. Research limitations/implications – It would be interesting to extend the period of analysis to study the trend in human resource disclosure and to use an alternative measure of disclosing as the information quality. Practical implications – These findings concluded that the fundamental aim of Spanish companies is to reflect social behaviour regarding employees. Less important appears to be to inform about business capacity, through human element, for creating value. The necessity of explicit disclosure requirements to Spanish companies’ disclosure on human resources is also detected. Originality/value – Some studies have been carried out to analyse disclosure on intellectual capital or on social issues but not since a broad perspective. Furthermore, these studies have not been done in Spain. The author may confirm that the influence of some stakeholders in this country is conditioning corporate disclosure.

Relationship between Human Resource Disclosure and Company Attributes: An Empirical Study on Textile Companies in Bangladesh

Human Resource (HR) disclosure in Textile companies in a developing country with abundance of human resources like Bangladesh is a new flavor in social accounting literature. The study is an investigation of HR disclosure practices and its relationship with the company specific attributes of all 29 listed Textile companies in Bangladesh. The study considered 81 human resource items under eight different classes which are expected to be disclosed in the annual report. The study found that though some graphs, charts and pictures were used for HR disclosure but most of the information was disclosed in narrative form. Sample companies on an average disclosed about 50% and about 60% companies disclosed less than 50% of the expected HR items and HR disclosure is significantly related with the size of the companies measured by gross revenue. The study expects that textile companies would disclose more HR information in future to attract more promising employees.

Human Resources Disclosure by the Largest Czech Companies

Abstract Importance of sustainable approach to entrepreneurship is growing. Hand in hand with this trend importance of sustainability reporting, which includes reporting on human resources, also increases. In this paper we examine the existence and extent of reporting on human resources in annual reports of the largest companies domiciled in the Czech Republic, which belong to selected industrial sectors. We also investigate which firm characteristics (size, listing status, industry) are potential determinants of the level of disclosure on human resources practices. To fulfil our goals we utilized methods of content analysis and linear regression. In total 45 annual reports were examined. We found that at least some information related to human resources is disclosed in each of these reports. Nevertheless the amount of disclosed information is often very superficial and organizations do not use any standards or guidelines for non-financial reporting. Comparison of the published annual reports with requirements defined by the GRI Guidelines version 4 highlighted how little information on human resources is published by majority of organizations. Regarding potential determinants of level of disclosure, our results show that organization size (measured by number of employees) and listing status (i.e. ownership type) have a significant positive association with composite disclosure index on human resources (CDI). On the contrary, industry had no influence on level of disclosure.

Quality of Intellectual Capital and Human Resources Disclosure on the Firm Valuation

Recent tendency of businesses towards voluntary disclosure has improved the quality of financial reporting. High-quality financial reporting helps users of financial information trust business, and thus, creates value for the business. The present study concerned itself with the voluntary reporting of intellectual capital and knowledge assets. Companies with large investments on knowledge assets, intellectual capital, and human resources, have managed to create great competitive advantage. The population of the present study was composed of 65 companies listed on Tehran Stock Exchange in the period from 2005 to 2012. The hypothesis testing results showed that voluntary disclosure of intellectual capital and human resources information had a significant and positive impact firm value, with a one year lapse. This is an indication of the importance of the disclosure of such information for financial statements users.

Human Resources Information in the Management Report of the Top Spanish Companies

Since 2005 in Spain it has been mandatory to include information about human resources in the Management Reports, provided it is relevant to understanding business evolution. We study the human resources (HR) disclosure practices of the companies listed on the IBEX-35 for the period 2005-2009, using a structured content analysis which takes as a reference the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) harmonization project. The overall result of this analysis is the poor quality of the information disclosed by the firms, in terms of relevance and comparability. In order to improve disclosure practices, both the Spanish authorities and those of other countries should recommend, if not require, the implementation of the Practice Statement– Management Commentary issued by the IASB in 2010, as well as the establishment of appropriate enforcement mechanisms.

العوامل المؤثرة في مستوى الإفصاح المحاسبي عن الموارد البشرية في التقارير المالية للبنوك العاملة في الأردن = Factors Affecting the Level of Human Resource Accounting Disclosure in the Financial Reports of Banks in Jordan

This study aimed to examine the impact of the factors that are related to selected bank characteristics; i.e., size, age, nature of activity, profitability, and nationality on the level of human resource disclosure in the annual financial reports of banks in Jordan, as well as investigating the level of human resource disclosure in these reports. For this purpose a disclosure index was developed to measure the level of this disclosure in the annual financial reports of banks in Jordan, and the content analysis was used to determine the items that were disclosed in these reports. Further, multiple regression model was applied to test hypotheses. The findings of the study indicated that the size, age, profitability, and nationality have significant impact on the level of human resource disclosure in the annual financial reports of banks in Jordan. In contrast, the nature of activity does not have a significant influence on the level of human resource disclosure in these reports. Results also indicate that the overall level of human resource disclosure in the annual financial reports of banks in Jordan was average.

Corporate social reporting and human resource disclosures: experiences from insurance companies in India

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which Indian insurance companies have adapted socially responsible reporting practices, HR disclosures and also to identify areas of corporate social reporting and HR disclosures.Design/methodology/approachThe study adopts longitudinal design and has analyzed qualitative data by using content analysis in 26 insurance companies in India disclosed in annual reports. The paper focuses on annual reports of Indian insurance companies starting from the financial year 2002‐2003 to 2009‐2010, which are analyzed with regard to the nature of their human resource disclosures and social reporting. Finally, a test of legitimacy theory is then conducted.FindingsThe study found that the non‐life insurance companies disclosed significantly less social information than life insurance companies. The study also reveals that public life insurers disclosed significantly more social information than the other life insurance companies. On the other hand, a paired difference t‐test shows private general insurance companies disclose more social information as the difference significant.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has ignored longitudinal variations and the sample organizations comprised 26 government and private insurance organizations, restricting generalizations to the companies examined in the study.Practical implicationsThe study recommends that a checklist of disclosures should be developed jointly by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).Originality/valueThe study, while providing valuable insights, highlights the dearth of research of corporate social reporting in emerging economies and opens up many avenues for further research.

Company Characteristics and Human Resource Disclosure in Greece

This paper reports the results of a study on human resource disclosure in Greece. It investigates the extent to which Greek companies disclose information about human resource in their annual reports and analyzes whether a number of firm characteristics are potential determinants of corporate social responsibility. Once the information was quantified, using regression analysis, the influence of certain company characteristics such as size, industry type, profitability, listing status and GRI guidelines was examined. The results confirm that firms with higher human resource ratings are the listed companies and companies that use the GRI guidelines to prepare corporate social reports. Company size, industry and profitability had no effect on disclosure level.

Human Resources

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent of human resources (HR) valuation and disclosure practices adopted in some of the leading Indian companies, thereby making an humble contribution to the existing body of knowledge in the field of HR reporting practices in India. Three years of annual reports of NIFTY-based fifty companies listed on the NSE, have been studied to achieve the purpose using the technique of content analysis. The findings reveal that out of fifty leading companies of India, only one company (ONGC) follows the HRA practices. Also, the extent of HR disclosure practices is far from satisfactory. Since the analysis of the Annual reports is based on only fifty NIFTY-based companies, findings cannot be generalized for all Indian companies.

Human resources disclosure in Danish intellectual capital statements

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the human resources disclosure in Danish Intellectual Capital Statements to determine if these disclosures enhance the comparability of business model performance among companies.Design/methodology/approachThe paper applies the Danish Intellectual Capital Statements Analysis Model to five Danish companies' intellectual capital statements. This analysis reveals the extent to which these companies report human resources in their disclosures. The analysis also reveals how such disclosures can be used to make internal comparisons year‐to‐year as well as to make comparisons among companies. The five companies were analysed systematically using the same methodology.FindingsThe paper shows that it is feasible to analyse intellectual capital statements systematically and to compare corporate business models. In addition, the paper shows that intellectual capital statements, which convey company‐specific information on human resources, play a role in corporate value creation.Practical implicationsThe paper shows that intellectual capital statements guidelines can be useful in the description of business models and in the analysis of the role of human resources disclosure in corporate value creation.Originality/valueThe contribution of the paper is its use of intellectual capital statements guidelines as a methodology for analysing the role of human resources disclosure in corporate value creation. This methodology has application in the development of the integration of business model measurement performance with traditional corporate financial reporting.