ABSTRACT

This study investigates how the European Union (EU) Directive (2014/95) on Non-Financial Reporting and employee representation within the board affects the extent and quality of employee-related disclosures. Using a sample of Swedish firms listed on the Nasdaq OMX Stockholm Exchange, we find that both the Directive and employee representation on the board positively affect the extent and quality of disclosures on employee-related matters. We document that employee-related disclosures are more precise and less uncertain among firms with employee representatives, although the level of uncertainty increases after implementing the Directive. Moreover, our interaction analysis indicates that the Directive and employee representatives affect employee-related disclosures independently. This finding suggests that both internal corporate governance and external regulation are important, and that the Directive ensures a minimum extent of disclosures at firms that lack internal governance mechanisms (i.e. employee representation on their corporate boards).

摘要

本研究调查了欧盟 (EU) 关于非财务报告和董事会中员工代表的指令 (2014/95) 如何影响员工相关披露的程度和质量。通过对在纳斯达克 OMX 斯德哥尔摩交易所上市的瑞典公司进行样本分析，我们发现该指令和董事会中的员工代表都对员工相关事项的披露程度和质量产生积极影响。我们发现，在拥有员工代表的公司中，与员工相关的披露更加准确，不确定性更小，尽管实施该指令后不确定性程度有所增加。此外，我们的互动分析表明，指令和员工代表独立影响与员工相关的披露。