Using content analysis as a research method to inquire into intellectual capital reporting

Abstract

Increasingly, researchers in the field of intellectual capital (IC) need to be able to justify the specific research methods they use to collect the empirical data that they examine to support and test opinions regarding the merit of different approaches to managing and reporting IC. Of the various methods available to researchers seeking to understand intellectual capital reporting (ICR), content analysis is the most popular. The aim of this paper is to review the use of content analysis as a research method in understanding ICR and to offer some observations on the practical utility of the method. Further, the paper examines several research method issues relating to the use of content analysis that have been discussed in the social environmental accounting literature, but not as yet in the IC literature, which we believe are relevant to investigations underway in the field of ICR. This paper reports on several developmental issues we have confronted when using content analysis to examine the voluntary disclosure of IC in annual reports by various organisations. The paper also suggests two theoretical foundations for further investigation into the voluntary disclosure of IC by organisations, and suggests why content analysis is well matched to both these theories as a means to collect empirical data to test research propositions.

Relationship between Unionized Companies, Government Ownership and Reporting Human Capital Information in Corporate Annual Reports

“…Accordingly, companies used HCD as an effective strategy of corporate disclosure to signal to stakeholders their responses, responsibilities, and values toward their human capital. In such a case, as suggested by stakeholder theory (Abeysekera 2006), the disclosure strategy may seem less effective through the traditional symbol of corporate success (e.g., through mandatory disclosure of financial and hard assets) (Guthrie & Ricceri 2004;Whiting & Miller 2008).…”

Seeking for a sustainable development scoreboard: Beyond the agency theory

“…There are several theories that have explained the various factors that influence disclosure: contingency theory (Reid andSmith, 2000, Thomas, 1991), institutional theory (Chapman et al, 2009;DiMaggio and Powell, 1991) and legitimacy theory (Dowling and Pfeffer, 1975;Guthrie et al, 2004). However, it is our understanding that the factors that determine the dissemination of information result in symbiosis between them all, given the complexity of the business that we know today.…”

“…The fact that organizations tend to implement the same structures and practices in time, as a response to social requirements, is designated in the literature as institutional isomorphism (DiMaggio and Powell, 1991). The theory of legitimacy is based on the notion of a social contract between the reporting entity and the society in which it operates (Guthrie et al, 2004). The dissemination of information is one way to relieve social pressure and legitimize their organizational activities.…”

“…Based on the Contingency (Reid and Smith, 2000;Thomas, 1991), Institutional (Chapman et al, 2009;DiMaggio and Powel, 1991) and Legitimacy (Dowling and Pfeffer, 1975;Guthrie et al, 2004) theories, the information dissemination is stilted by multiple stakeholder's expectations and requirements. Thus, several restrictions on the information dissemination can be explained in the framework of agency theory, especially the dissemination of non-mandatory information.…”

Categories of Intellectual Capital Disclosed by Service-based Companies in Botswana

“…To do this, the author relied on direct measures of intellectual capital (Guthrie et al, 2004), accessed through documents in the form of the company annual reports. Consequently, the philosophical orientation of this study was qualitative (Creswell, 1994).…”