Employee-Related Disclosures and Capital Market Reactions: Analysing Human Capital Disclosure, Wellbeing Washing, and CEO Pay Ratios

Almubarak, Alhanouf (2024) Employee-Related Disclosures and Capital Market Reactions: Analysing Human Capital Disclosure, Wellbeing Washing, and CEO Pay Ratios. Doctoral thesis, University of East Anglia.

PDF Restricted to Repository staff only until 31 May 2028. Request a copy

Abstract

This dissertation includes three empirical studies on the topic of employee-related disclosures. The first study investigates the association between human capital disclosures and firms' performance (i.e., profitability and value) and examines how a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) change in mandated human capital disclosure is associated with these outcomes. I examine the disclosures of Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 firms from 2012 to 2021 and have three main results. First, human capital disclosure is positively associated with firms' performance. Second, the change in the SEC's required human capital disclosure is associated with an increase in firms' human capital disclosure. Third, from the year when the SEC initiated discussions about the amendment (2016) to 2019, there was a noticeable increase in the association between disclosure and firm profitability. However, this association disappears after the implementation of the mandated changes (2020 and 2021). The second study investigates wellbeing washing, where firms claim to prioritise the wellbeing of their employees but fail to implement measures to put this into practice. I focus on wellbeing disclosures in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reports, particularly those of S&P 100 firms from 2018 to 2022. I examine the association between firms' disclosures regarding employee wellbeing and the ratings of employees on the Glassdoor website. I find that, overall, wellbeing disclosures in ESG reports are negatively associated with contemporaneous Glassdoor ratings of current employees. Additionally, I find firms that disclose a high level of wellbeing information, regardless of their actual employee satisfaction, have a significantly higher market value. The third study investigates the association between CEO-to-median employee pay ratios and firm-level risk, using a sample from the S&P 100 from 2018 to 2022. I find a positive association between the CEO pay ratio and firm-level risk. However, this association does not exist in socially responsible firms, as I find no association between CEO pay ratios and firm-level risk.

Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Norwich Business School
Depositing User:	Kitty Laine
Date Deposited:	30 May 2025 12:56
Last Modified:	30 May 2025 12:56
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/99338
DOI:

Actions (login required)

View Item