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Yes / This paper investigates the role of peer effects in the employee welfare policies of organizations. Using US panel data for a sample of 11,451 firm-year observations from 1996 to 2017, we find that firms’ employee welfare decisions are driven by their peers and show that peer firms play a significant role in defining corporate employee welfare policies. Our findings are robust to various sensitivity checks, including alternative definitions of employee welfare, alternative peer proxies, and several identification strategies. Our additional analysis shows that herding behavior is prevalent in followers, who mimic leaders' behavior, but we do not find any such relationship for industry leaders. Further, we show the evidence suggesting that mimetic and normative isomorphic pressures are driving the peer effects. Finally, we document the economic consequence of peer mimicking in employee welfare policies. Our findings on firms’ peer effects and herding behavior have policy implications.

This thesis is an effort to advance our knowledge and understanding of the role that labor plays in shaping corporate financial policies and how it is in turn affected by considerations related to firms' financing. I present three essays on the interaction between finance and labor. First, I provide two examples of how labor affects financial decisions, in which I investigate the impacts that commitment to employee welfare and reliance on skilled labor have on cash management policies. Next, I examine the effect of ownership structure on labor investment decisions as an example of how finance affects human capital. In the first essay, I examine the relation between employee welfare practices and corporate cash holdings. Consistent with the predictions of the stakeholder theory, I find firms that are strongly committed to employee welfare, measured by ratings on employee relations, to hold more cash. The effect of employee welfare standards on cash holdings is stronger for firms in human-capital-intensive, competitive, and low turnover industries in which employees are more important to their businesses. The findings highlight the importance of human capital and employee-friendly practices as an overlooked determinant of cash holdings and suggest that managers can use cash to signal their financial health to current and potential employees, thereby increasing their competitiveness in labor markets. The second essay examines whether a firm's dependence on skilled labor affects its cash holdings. Consistent with a precautionary motive to accumulate cash when higher labor adjustment costs slow a firm's labor demand reaction to cash flow shocks, I find robust evidence that companies with higher shares of skilled labor hold more cash. The effect of skilled labor on cash holdings is more pronounced for firms that are financially constrained, attach higher values to their human capital, operate in competitive product markets, and belong to industries characterized by high labor mobility. The findings suggest that labor heterogeneity, and in particular the skill level of workers is an important determinant of corporate cash policies. The results provide managers of firms, particularly those that are financially constrained, with insights on how to minimize their labor adjustment costs and reduce the risk of losing their valuable human capital. In my third essay, I examine whether the presence of long-term institutional investors, who typically have strong monitoring incentives, can help mitigate agency conflicts associated with firms' employment choices. I find that abnormal net hiring, measured as the absolute deviation from net hiring predicted by economic fundamentals, decreases in the presence of institutional investors with longer investment horizons. Firms dominated by long-term shareholders reduce both over-investment (over-hiring and under-firing) and under-investment in labor (under-hiring).The monitoring role of long-term investors is more pronounced for firms facing higher labor adjustment costs. These findings suggest that institutional investors play an important role in firm-level employment decisions.

This study explores employee welfare and working conditions in relation to ethical HRM practices from the employees’ perspective in the Bangladeshi Ready-Made Garment (RMG) sector. This research is inspired by the need to understand the challenges that employees face in their practical work settings and the unfair Human Resource Management (HRM) process that they experience in their work. The interpretivist philosophical approach and the qualitative research approach have been adopted in this research study, while the semi-structured interview method has been applied for primary-data collection. A total of 25 semi-structured interviews with General Employees, Informal Representative Leaders, Employees, Middle and Senior Managers have been undertaken in this process. Five focus-group discussions have also been applied to corroborate the data generated from the 25 semi-structured interviews. The case-study strategy has also been implemented as a research strategy and thematic analysis has been applied to the data-analysis process. The findings of this research study show the need for deeper understanding and application of ethical HRM practices in particular national and sectoral contexts, specifically in the Bangladeshi RMG sector. These ethical HRM practices include, but are not limited to, the initiation of rights-based understanding and respect-based perception, the inclusion of welfare facilities, the implementation of a fair payment policy, the equitable recruitment and selection policy, and the initiation and equality of training and development facilities. These new ethical understandings contribute to the field of ethical HRM in the context of the development of employee welfare and decent working conditions in this sector.

L’objectif de cette thèse est d’étudier les effets de pairs en finance d’entreprise. Trois essais portant sur les entreprises américaines sont proposés. La thèse est organisée en quatre chapitres. Le premier chapitre présente une revue de la littérature financière des théories et des modèles qui motivent les effets de pairs et le comportement de conformité. Plus précisément, nous définissons les effets de pairs et nous proposons une synthèse des études théoriques et empiriques identifiant les effets de pairs et leurs implications sur la psychologie humaine. Ensuite, nous résumons les théories les plus critiques dans la littérature financière qui se sont intéressées à l'impact du comportement des pairs sur les politiques financières de l'entreprise. Enfin, nous discutons les principales questions que pose la mesure des effets de pairs. Nous soulignons en conclusion de ce chapitre l’intérêt de ce sujet et nous présentons les axes d’orientation des recherches futures. Dans les chapitres suivants, nous examinons empiriquement ces effets de pairs dans trois domaines, non encore explorés, dans le contexte du marché américain. Il s'agit notamment de la « mauvaise conduite » des entreprises, du « bien-être » des employés et de l’investissement en recherche et développement.Le deuxième chapitre étudie la présence ou non d’un effet de pairs dans l’explication du comportement frauduleux des entreprises. En utilisant un échantillon de 3 034 entreprises américaines et couvrant la période de 1999 à 2014, nous montrons que les entreprises dont le siège social se situe dans les zones ayant le taux de fraude des « cols blancs » le plus élevé, ont une plus grande probabilité d’avoir un comportement frauduleux. Ce résultat suggère que l'interaction sociale au niveau régional encourage les entreprises à adopter une mauvaise conduite. Des tests complémentaires montrent que ces effets de pairs prévalent dans le cas des entreprises en difficulté alors que nous ne trouvons pas les mêmes résultats pour les entreprises en bonne situation financière. Nous constatons également que ces effets de pairs sont principalement présents dans les régions où le taux de criminalité est élevé, ce qui laisse supposer que les niveaux élevés de criminalité locale sont susceptibles de favoriser une culture de la fraude dans ces domaines.Le troisième chapitre explore les effets de pairs dans les politiques de « bien-être » des employés de l'entreprise. Nous montrons que les entreprises de pairs jouent un rôle important dans la définition des politiques de bien-être des employés d'une entreprise. En utilisant les données d’un échantillon américain de 9 062 observations année/entreprise couvrant la période de 1996 à 2013, nous constatons que les décisions de l'entreprise sur le bien-être des employés sont principalement des réponses aux politiques sociales de leurs pairs. En outre, nos résultats montrent que ce comportement est répandu chez les suiveurs, qui adoptent le comportement des « leaders », mais nous ne trouvons pas ce genre de comportement de la part des entreprises « leaders » du secteur d’activité.Le quatrième et dernier chapitre de la thèse étudie les effets de pairs dans la politique de recherche et développement (R&D) des entreprises. Nous montrons que les entreprises ne décident pas de leurs politiques en R&D d’une manière isolée puisque les entreprises pairs jouent un rôle essentiel dans la définition de ces dernières. En utilisant des données américaines pour un échantillon large de 54 393 observations entreprise/année sur la période de 1991 à 2015, nous constatons que les décisions R&D de l'entreprise sont principalement des réponses aux politiques R&D de leurs pairs. De plus, nous constatons que les effets de pairs en R&D ne sont significatifs qu'en présence d'une forte concurrence sur le marché des produits, alors que ces résultats ne sont pas vérifiés sur les marchés à faible concurrence. / This thesis explores the peer effects in corporate finance. The first chapter provides a review of literature on the theories and models that motivate peer effects and conformity behavior. Specifically, we emphasize on what precisely is meant by peer effects, how existing studies in the literature identify peer effects and its implications on human behavior. Next, we summarize the most critical theories in finance literature that encourage peer effects and the impact of peer behavior on firm financial policies. Last but not least, we discuss the main challenges in measuring peer effects and conclude the chapter by highlighting potential areas of future work in this field. The next chapters empirically examine these peer effects in three important, yet not explored areas of finance in the context of the US market. These include corporate misbehavior, employee welfare, and, research and development.The second chapter examines the presence of peer effects in corporate misbehavior. Using a sample of 3,034 US-listed firms covering 1999‒2014, we show that firms headquartered in areas with the higher white-collar fraud have a higher probability of corporate misbehavior, suggesting that area level social interaction encourages corporate misconduct. Additional analyses show that these peer effects prevail in distressed firms while we do not find such evidence for non-distressed firms. We also find that these peer effects are mainly present in areas with a high crime rate, suggesting that the high levels of local criminality are likely to favor a culture of fraud in these areas.The third chapter explores the peer effects in the firm’s employee welfare policies. We show that peer firms play a significant role in defining employee welfare policies of a firm. Using US panel data for a sample of 9,062 firm-year observations from 1996 to 2013, we find that firm’s employee welfare decisions are responses to their peers’ employee welfare policies. This impact is much higher than any other peer characteristics. Moreover, our additional analysis shows that this behavior is prevalent in followers, who mimic the behavior of leaders but we do not find any such relationship for industry leaders.The fourth and last chapter of the thesis empirically investigates firm peer effects in research and development (R&D) policies. We show that firms do not make their R&D decisions in isolation and peer firms play an essential role in defining the R&D intensity of a given firm. Using US panel data for a sample of 54,393 firm-year observations from 1991 to 2015, we find that firm’s R&D decisions are responses to their peers’ R&D policies. Further, we find that R&D peer effects are significant only in the presence of strong product market competition, while these results do not hold for markets with lower product market competition.

Bakgrund: Sjukfrånvaro, sjukskrivningar och ohälsa är något som kostar både samhället och företagen mycket pengar. En medarbetares personliga hälsa spelar en stor roll när det kommer till både lönsamhet och produktivitet på arbetsplatsen. Motion leder till att en individ blir bättre på att planera arbetsuppgifter, får bättre koncentration och initiativtagande. Många företag investerar i sin personal i form av friskvård, men den förbättrade prestationen varken redovisas eller mäts på ett specifikt konto i redovisningen.  Syfte: Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka om och hur företag använder sig av nyckeltal som mäter den ekonomiska resultateffekten av friskvård och andra hälsofrämjande insatser.  Metod: Vi kommer i det här arbetet använda oss av en kvalitativ metod tillsammans med en deduktiv ansats. Datainsamling sker genom semistrukturerade intervjuer eftersom vi då har möjlighet att anpassa våra frågor och följdfrågor. Totalt har 14 respondenter från 13 olika företag intervjuats.  Slutsats: Studien har visat att företag vanligtvis inte mäter den ekonomiska effektiviteten av friskvård och hälsofrämjande insatser, varken generellt eller med hjälp av bestämda nyckeltal. Flertalet upplever att det saknas ett enkelt tillvägagångssätt och många upplever inte sjukfrånvaron som ett problemområde. Samtidigt visade studien att sjukfrånvaron kan vara missvisande eftersom anställda underpresterar på grund av sjuknärvaro. / Background: Absence due to illness, sick leave and ill health is something that costs both society and companies a lot of money. An employee's personal health plays a big role when it comes to both profitability and productivity in the workplace. Exercise leads to an individual becoming better at planning tasks, gaining better concentration and initiative. Many companies invest in their staff in the form of wellness, but the improved performance is neither reported nor measured in a specific account in the accounting. Purpose: The purpose of the essay is to investigate whether and how companies use key performance indicators that measure the financial performance effect of employee welfare benefits and other health-promoting efforts. Method: In this essay we will mainly use a qualitative method together with a deductive approach. Data collection is conducted through semi-structured interviews, since we then have the opportunity to both adapt our questions and follow-up questions. A total of 14 respondents from 13 different companies were interviewed. Conclusion: The study has shown that companies usually do not measure the financial effectiveness of employee welfare benefits and health promotion efforts, neither generally nor with the help of specific key performance indicators. The majority feel that there is no simple approach and many do not experience sickness absence as a problem. At the same time, the study showed that sickness absence can be misleading because employees underperform due to presenteeism.

En esta investigación se determinó el impacto de la gestión del talento humano en la retención de empleados de una constructora de la ciudad de Jaén, 2022. Además, en relación a la metodología, la investigación fue cuantitativa, no experimental, aplicada y transversal, en donde se tuvo una población censal, es decir, la población fue conformada por 100 colaboradores que tuvieron como mínimo 3 meses de trabajo y que se encontraron en planilla en la constructora. Se tuvo como instrumento el cuestionario planteado por Tiwari & Shrivastava (2013) quienes estudiaron ambas variables. Los hallazgos indicaron que, gracias al entorno de trabajo cómodo y seguro, la empresa constructora goza de una excelente reputación ante la sociedad, sin embargo, la escasa inversión en iniciativas de retención ha provocado que se tenga poco talento adecuado para estrategias presentes y futuras, lo que ha repercutido en retener al colaborador, asimismo, aunque se ha fomentado el bienestar de los empleados, la falta de ventajas y posibilidades de desarrollo profesional ha provocado la marcha de personal esencial, esto supone un riesgo para el crecimiento y la sostenibilidad a largo plazo de la constructora. En conclusión, el impacto de la gestión del talento humano en la retención de empleados es significativo, dado que la empresa ha acogido talento y oportunidades comerciales debido a su reputación favorable con clientes y socios potenciales. Asimismo, la satisfacción y el bienestar del personal en el trabajo han incrementado el compromiso y la productividad. / In this research, the impact of human talent management on the retention of employees of a construction company in the city of Jaén, 2022, was determined. In addition, in relation to the methodology, the research was quantitative, non-experimental, applied and cross-sectional approach, where there was a census population, that is, the population was made up of 100 collaborators who had at least 3 months of work and who were on the payroll at the construction company. The questionnaire posed by Tiwari & Shrivastava (2013) who studied both variables was used as an instrument. The findings indicated that, thanks to the comfortable and safe working environment, the construction company enjoys an excellent reputation in society, however, the low investment in retention initiatives has led to having little suitable talent for present and future strategies, which has had an impact on the retention of the employee, likewise, although the wellbeing of employees has been promoted, the lack of advantages and possibilities for professional development has caused the departure of essential personnel, this poses a risk to the growth and long-term sustainability of the construction company. In conclusion, the impact of human talent management on employee retention is significant, since the company has embraced talent and business opportunities due to its favorable reputation with potential customers and partners. Likewise, the satisfaction and well-being of staff at work have increased commitment and productivity.