IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/finrev/v59y2024i3p745-777.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Discrimination announcements, employee opinion, and capital structure: Evidence from the EEOC

Author

Listed:
  • Spencer Barnes

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of discrimination publicity on employee opinion. The findings suggest that employees reduce their sentiments toward the firm and its leaders when discrimination becomes public via Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announcements. Following the stakeholder theory of capital structure, the effect clusters in firms with above‐average leverage. Additionally, discrimination announcements increase accruals and the E index, reinforcing a culture of negative management at the firm. These results suggest that human capital risk plays a vital role in employee reactions to discrimination announcements.

Suggested Citation

  • Spencer Barnes, 2024. "Discrimination announcements, employee opinion, and capital structure: Evidence from the EEOC," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 59(3), pages 745-777, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:finrev:v:59:y:2024:i:3:p:745-777
    DOI: 10.1111/fire.12382
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/fire.12382
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/fire.12382?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bruce Haslem, 2005. "Managerial Opportunism during Corporate Litigation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(4), pages 2013-2041, August.
    2. Hao Liang & Luc Renneboog, 2017. "On the Foundations of Corporate Social Responsibility," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(2), pages 853-910, April.
    3. David Neumark & Roy J. Bank & Kyle D. Van Nort, 1996. "Sex Discrimination in Restaurant Hiring: An Audit Study," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(3), pages 915-941.
    4. Marianne Bertrand & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2003. "Enjoying the Quiet Life? Corporate Governance and Managerial Preferences," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 111(5), pages 1043-1075, October.
    5. Christopher A. Parsons & Johan Sulaeman & Sheridan Titman, 2018. "The Geography of Financial Misconduct," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 73(5), pages 2087-2137, October.
    6. Daron Acemoglu & Joshua D. Angrist, 2001. "Consequences of Employment Protection? The Case of the Americans with Disabilities Act," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(5), pages 915-957, October.
    7. Henry G. Manne, 1965. "Mergers and the Market for Corporate Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 73(2), pages 110-110.
    8. Lin, Chen & Wei, Lai & Xie, Wensi, 2020. "Managerial Entrenchment and Information Production," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(8), pages 2500-2529, December.
    9. Hazan, Moshe & Cohen, Alma & Weiss, David & Tallarita, Roberto, 2019. "The Politics of CEOs," CEPR Discussion Papers 13710, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2015. "Corporate Culture, Societal Culture, and Institutions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 336-339, May.
    11. Braguinsky, Serguey & Mityakov, Sergey, 2015. "Foreign corporations and the culture of transparency: Evidence from Russian administrative data," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 139-164.
    12. Timothy Besley & Robin Burgess, 2004. "Can Labor Regulation Hinder Economic Performance? Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 91-134.
    13. Hilary, Gilles & Hui, Kai Wai, 2009. "Does religion matter in corporate decision making in America?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3), pages 455-473, September.
    14. Barnes, Spencer & Cheng, Yingmei, 2023. "Employee approval of CEOs and firm value: Evidence from Employees' choice awards," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    15. Lars-Eric Petersen & Franciska Krings, 2009. "Are Ethical Codes of Conduct Toothless Tigers for Dealing with Employment Discrimination?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 85(4), pages 501-514, April.
    16. Dougal, Casey & Gao, Pengjie & Mayew, William J. & Parsons, Christopher A., 2019. "What’s in a (school) name? Racial discrimination in higher education bond markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(3), pages 570-590.
    17. Rogers, Jonathan L. & Van Buskirk, Andrew, 2009. "Shareholder litigation and changes in disclosure behavior," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1-2), pages 136-156, March.
    18. Edmans, Alex, 2011. "Does the stock market fully value intangibles? Employee satisfaction and equity prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 621-640, September.
    19. Jonathan B. Berk & Richard Stanton & Josef Zechner, 2010. "Human Capital, Bankruptcy, and Capital Structure," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(3), pages 891-926, June.
    20. Joye Khoo & Adrian (Wai Kong) Cheung, 2023. "Does skilled labor risk matter to suppliers? Evidence from trade credit," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 58(2), pages 423-447, May.
    21. Cheng, Yingmei & Liu, Baixiao & McConnell, John J. & Rosenblum, Aaron, 2017. "When is good news bad and vice versa? The Fortune rankings of America's most admired companies," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 378-396.
    22. David H. Autor, 2003. "Outsourcing at Will: The Contribution of Unjust Dismissal Doctrine to the Growth of Employment Outsourcing," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(1), pages 1-42, January.
    23. DeBacker, Jason & Heim, Bradley T. & Tran, Anh, 2015. "Importing corruption culture from overseas: Evidence from corporate tax evasion in the United States," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 122-138.
    24. Ball, Ray & Gerakos, Joseph & Linnainmaa, Juhani T. & Nikolaev, Valeri, 2016. "Accruals, cash flows, and operating profitability in the cross section of stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 28-45.
    25. David H. Autor & John J. Donohue & Stewart J. Schwab, 2006. "The Costs of Wrongful-Discharge Laws," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(2), pages 211-231, May.
    26. Luigi Guiso & Paola Sapienza & Luigi Zingales, 2009. "Cultural Biases in Economic Exchange?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(3), pages 1095-1131.
    27. Stuckatz, Jan, 2022. "How the Workplace Affects Employee Political Contributions," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 116(1), pages 54-69, February.
    28. Robert C. Bird & John D. Knopf, 2009. "Do Wrongful-Discharge Laws Impair Firm Performance?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 52(2), pages 197-222, May.
    29. Andy C.W. Chui & Sheridan Titman & K.C. John Wei, 2010. "Individualism and Momentum around the World," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(1), pages 361-392, February.
    30. Lucian Bebchuk & Alma Cohen & Allen Ferrell, 2009. "What Matters in Corporate Governance?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(2), pages 783-827, February.
    31. Maksimovic, Vojislav & Titman, Sheridan, 1991. "Financial Policy and Reputation for Product Quality," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 4(1), pages 175-200.
    32. Bonica, Adam, 2016. "Avenues of influence: on the political expenditures of corporations and their directors and executives," Business and Politics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(4), pages 367-394, December.
    33. Henry G. Manne, 1965. "Mergers and the Market for Corporate Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 73(4), pages 351-351.
    34. Liu, Xiaoding, 2016. "Corruption culture and corporate misconduct," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 307-327.
    35. Mark Grinblatt & Matti Keloharju, 2001. "How Distance, Language, and Culture Influence Stockholdings and Trades," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 1053-1073, June.
    36. Kai Li & Feng Mai & Rui Shen & Xinyan Yan, 2021. "Measuring Corporate Culture Using Machine Learning," NBER Chapters, in: Big Data: Long-Term Implications for Financial Markets and Firms, pages 3265-3315, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    37. Summers, Lawrence H, 1989. "Some Simple Economics of Mandated Benefits," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(2), pages 177-183, May.
    38. Bae, Kee-Hong & Kang, Jun-Koo & Wang, Jin, 2011. "Employee treatment and firm leverage: A test of the stakeholder theory of capital structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(1), pages 130-153, April.
    39. Ferris, Stephen P. & Jandik, Tomas & Lawless, Robert M. & Makhija, Anil, 2007. "Derivative Lawsuits as a Corporate Governance Mechanism: Empirical Evidence on Board Changes Surrounding Filings," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 42(1), pages 143-165, March.
    40. Huang, Minjie & Li, Pingshu & Meschke, Felix & Guthrie, James P., 2015. "Family firms, employee satisfaction, and corporate performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 108-127.
    41. Mary Brooke Billings & Matthew C. Cedergren & Svenja Dube, 2021. "Does litigation change managers’ beliefs about the value of voluntarily disclosing bad news?," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 1456-1491, December.
    42. Chemmanur, Thomas J. & Cheng, Yingmei & Zhang, Tianming, 2013. "Human capital, capital structure, and employee pay: An empirical analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(2), pages 478-502.
    43. Kai Li & Feng Mai & Rui Shen & Xinyan Yan, 2021. "Measuring Corporate Culture Using Machine Learning [Machine learning methods that economists should know about]," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 34(7), pages 3265-3315.
    44. Casey Dougal & Christopher A. Parsons & Sheridan Titman, 2015. "Urban Vibrancy and Corporate Growth," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(1), pages 163-210, February.
    45. Green, T. Clifton & Huang, Ruoyan & Wen, Quan & Zhou, Dexin, 2019. "Crowdsourced employer reviews and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(1), pages 236-251.
    46. Aharony, Joseph & Liu, Chelsea & Yawson, Alfred, 2015. "Corporate litigation and executive turnover," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 268-292.
    47. Nicholas Heiserman & Brent Simpson, 2023. "Discrimination reduces work effort of those who are disadvantaged and those who are advantaged by it," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 7(11), pages 1890-1898, November.
    48. Olga Dodd & Bart Frijns & Robin Kaiji Gong & Shushu Liao, 2024. "Board cultural diversity and firm performance under competitive pressures," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 59(1), pages 89-111, February.
    49. David H. Autor & William R. Kerr & Adriana D. Kugler, 2007. "Does Employment Protection Reduce Productivity? Evidence From US States," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(521), pages 189-217, June.
    50. Biggerstaff, Lee & Cicero, David C. & Puckett, Andy, 2015. "Suspect CEOs, unethical culture, and corporate misbehavior," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(1), pages 98-121.
    51. Qi Ge & Ting Li, 2022. "Corporate social responsibility and shareholder wealth: New insights from information spillovers," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 179-203, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dang, Viet A. & De Cesari, Amedeo & Phan, Hieu V., 2021. "Employment protection and share repurchases: Evidence from wrongful discharge laws," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    2. Jiang, Jiaoliang & Chen, Yulin, 2021. "How does labor protection influence corporate risk-taking? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    3. Tian, Yonggang & Ang, James S. & Fu, Panpan & Ma, Chaoqun & Wang, Xiuhua, 2024. "Does social trust mitigate insiders' opportunistic behaviors? Evidence from insider trading," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    4. Brockman, Paul & Luo, Juan & Xu, Limin, 2020. "The impact of short-selling pressure on corporate employee relations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    5. Barnes, Spencer & Cheng, Yingmei, 2023. "Employee approval of CEOs and firm value: Evidence from Employees' choice awards," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    6. Fauver, Larry & McDonald, Michael B. & Taboada, Alvaro G., 2018. "Does it pay to treat employees well? International evidence on the value of employee-friendly culture," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 84-108.
    7. Quentin Dupont & Jonathan M. Karpoff, 2020. "The Trust Triangle: Laws, Reputation, and Culture in Empirical Finance Research," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 217-238, May.
    8. Nishant Dass & Vikram Nanda & Steven Chong Xiao, 2021. "Geographic Clustering of Corruption in the United States," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 173(3), pages 577-597, October.
    9. Ghaly, Mohamed & Dang, Viet Anh & Stathopoulos, Konstantinos, 2015. "Cash holdings and employee welfare," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 53-70.
    10. Omer Unsal & Blake Rayfield, 2020. "Correction to: Corporate governance and employee treatment: Evidence from takeover defenses," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 44(2), pages 392-416, April.
    11. Zaman, Rashid, 2024. "When corporate culture matters: The case of stakeholder violations," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(1).
    12. Che, Yi & Li, Xuchao & Zhang, Yan & Zhao, Lin, 2024. "Labor protection and firms’ risk-taking behavior: evidence from China’s New Labor Contract Law," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    13. Dongil D. Keum, 2020. "Cog in the wheel: Resource release and the scope of interdependencies in corporate adjustment activities," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 175-197, February.
    14. Nico Dewaelheyns & Cynthia Van Hulle & Yannick Van Landuyt & Mathias Verreydt, 2021. "Labor Contracts, Wages and SME Failure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-15, July.
    15. Tu Nguyen & Sandy Suardi & Jing Zhao, 2021. "Employee Treatment and Bank Default Risk during the Credit Crisis," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 59(3), pages 173-208, June.
    16. Pedro S. Martins, 2009. "Dismissals for Cause: The Difference That Just Eight Paragraphs Can Make," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 27(2), pages 257-279, April.
    17. Karpuz, Ahmet & Luo, Di & Xiao, Rongbing & Zhao, Huainan, 2023. "The effect of labour protection laws on the relationship between leverage and wages," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    18. Graham, John R. & Grennan, Jillian & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shivaram, 2022. "Corporate culture: Evidence from the field," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 552-593.
    19. Lei Chen & Zhi Jin & Yongqiang Ma & Hui Xu, 2019. "Confucianism, openness to the West, and corporate investment efficiency," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 25(3), pages 554-590, June.
    20. Nguyen, Phuong-Anh & Kecskés, Ambrus & Mansi, Sattar, 2020. "Does corporate social responsibility create shareholder value? The importance of long-term investors," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:finrev:v:59:y:2024:i:3:p:745-777. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/efaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.