Background: Human capital disclosure is a widely examined topic by scholars, previous studies has mainly focused on annual reports and companies webpages. However, during the last decade, social media has grown in importance and it represent a new way for companies to interact with stakeholders. The increased interactivity provided by social network sites have made it one of the most important communication tools for companies to interact with stakeholders. One of the larger social media, LinkedIn has received little attention by researchers, only one previous study has investigate human capital disclosure on LinkedIn. Previous research has examined different corporate disclosure in connection to ownership structure. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between ownership structure and human capital disclosure made by companies in Sweden and Norway via LinkedIn. Method: This study is conducted with a quantitative methodology, investigating a sample of 150 companies from Sweden and Norway. Human capital disclosure on LinkedIn are analysed through a content analysis and a regression analysis to test the hypothesis in this study. Conclusion: The results confirm the hypothesis that a negative relationship exists between ownership concentration and the level of human capital disclosure via LinkedIn. This is in line with previous research; however, this study shows that companies in a more digitalized environment disclose more HC information.

Thesis (doctoral)--Göteborgs universitet, 2003. / Added t.p. with thesis statement inserted. Includes bibliographical references (p. 190-206).

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(経済学) / 甲第21291号 / 経博第579号 / 新制||経||286(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院経済学研究科経済学専攻 / (主査)教授 徳賀 芳弘, 准教授 草野 真樹, 教授 藤井 秀樹 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Economics / Kyoto University / DFAM

It is generally acknowledged that human capital intangibles are major value drivers in the new economy characterised by information and technology. The main purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange disclose information on human capital related issues. The study combined both qualitative (literature reviews and content analysis) and quantitative (survey questionnaire) methods to collect data of 60 corporate annual reports (CARs) of listed companies in South Africa from survey questionnaires administered on various categories of preparers and users of these CARs. The study made use of 91 human capital disclosure checklists developed from literature reviews for the purpose of data collection. The data analysis was done with the aid of Atlasti-a qualitative data analysis software and SPSS- a quantitative data analysis software. The findings show that majority of the items on the disclosure checklist are not yet disclosed in the CARs even though most of the items on the checklist are adjudged to be useful for organisational value creation. In view of the initial findings of this study, a human capital disclosure framework is recommended. / Business Management / D. Accounting Science

It is generally acknowledged that human capital intangibles are major value drivers in the new economy characterised by information and technology. The main purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange disclose information on human capital related issues. The study combined both qualitative (literature reviews and content analysis) and quantitative (survey questionnaire) methods to collect data of 60 corporate annual reports (CARs) of listed companies in South Africa from survey questionnaires administered on various categories of preparers and users of these CARs. The study made use of 91 human capital disclosure checklists developed from literature reviews for the purpose of data collection. The data analysis was done with the aid of Atlasti-a qualitative data analysis software and SPSS- a quantitative data analysis software. The findings show that majority of the items on the disclosure checklist are not yet disclosed in the CARs even though most of the items on the checklist are adjudged to be useful for organisational value creation. In view of the initial findings of this study, a human capital disclosure framework is recommended. / Business Management / D. Accounting Science