preprints.org > business, economics and management > human resources and organizations > doi: 10.20944/preprints202406.1880.v1

Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Version 1 : Received: 26 June 2024 / Approved: 26 June 2024 / Online: 27 June 2024 (05:49:42 CEST)

Debates regarding human capital disclosure (HCD) emphasise the usefulness of people-related information in stimulating investor confidence and building stakeholder trust. Despite this, human capital (HC) information is interwoven in most international sustainability reporting standards such as the global reporting initiative (GRI), thereby concealing the impact of human resource (HR) practices in shareholder value creation. The aim of this study is to develop a taxonomy to assess HCD in the sustainability reports to capture the true value of HC distinctively. A content analysis-based study with a deductive approach was followed by utilising the GRI standards to isolate and classify people-related information into an HCD sustainability taxonomy. 40% HC metrics were extracted from the GRI standards and subsequently classified into 7 dimensions, namely, human capital allocation, human capital wellbeing, human capital investment, human capital network, human capital governance, human capital risk and human capital earnings. Furthermore, 40 GRI content indexes of the companies listed in the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) revealed that most disclosures are covered in the human capital governance and human capital earnings categories. HCD sustainability provides investors and HR professionals with a useful tool to assess people-related information from the sustainability reports for isolating the true value of HC.

Sustainability reporting; human capital disclosure; GRI reporting standard; taxonomy development

Business, Economics and Management, Human Resources and Organizations

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