IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finana/v96y2024ipas1057521924005027.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of employee satisfaction on company's labour investment efficiency

Author

Listed:
  • Adwan, Sami
  • Goncharenko, Galina
  • Liu, Siwen

Abstract

This study examines the impact of employee satisfaction on company's labour investment efficiency (CLIE) using a sample of 2,333 company-year observations associated with 302 companies listed in the UK between 2008 and 2020. Arguments based on human relations theory suggest that satisfied employees are likely to be motived to exert greater efforts and exhibit lower turnover, thereby reducing employer's exposure to labour market frictions. In contrast, agency theory argues that satisfied employees may become entrenched and thus harm organisational outcomes, including CLIE. We measure satisfaction with employers across our sample companies using 164,341 employees' ratings posted on Glassdoor UK. We observe a positive impact of employee satisfaction on CLIE, demonstrating the validity of underlying human relations theory for the present business context characterised by labour shortages. We also find the positive impact of employee satisfaction on CLIE to be stronger for companies with higher labour intensity, more reliance on skilled labour, and more competitive industry environments. Our study contributes to research investigating the determinants of efficient investment in workforce. We also demonstrate the informational value of employee' online reviews for understanding a company's performance, particularly in assessing the efficiency of its employment decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Adwan, Sami & Goncharenko, Galina & Liu, Siwen, 2024. "The impact of employee satisfaction on company's labour investment efficiency," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:96:y:2024:i:pa:s1057521924005027
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2024.103570
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1057521924005027
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.irfa.2024.103570?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Orsetta Causa & Michael Abendschein & Nhung Luu & Emilia Soldani & Chiara Soriolo, 2022. "The post-COVID-19 rise in labour shortages," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1721, OECD Publishing.
    2. Biddle, Gary C. & Hilary, Gilles & Verdi, Rodrigo S., 2009. "How does financial reporting quality relate to investment efficiency?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2-3), pages 112-131, December.
    3. 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.
    4. Hongkang Xu & Mai Dao & Hua Sun, 2023. "Accounting firms’ employee satisfaction and audit fees," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(7), pages 821-852, November.
    5. Ee, Mong Shan & Hasan, Iftekhar & Huang, He, 2022. "Stock liquidity and corporate labor investment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    6. Nguyen, Justin Hung, 2022. "How do labor adjustment costs affect corporate tax planning? Evidence from labor skills," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    7. Olubunmi Faleye & Emery Trahan, 2011. "Labor-Friendly Corporate Practices: Is What is Good for Employees Good for Shareholders?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 101(1), pages 1-27, June.
    8. Chen, Chen & Chen, Yangyang & Hsu, Po-Hsuan & Podolski, Edward J., 2016. "Be nice to your innovators: Employee treatment and corporate innovation performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 78-98.
    9. 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.
    10. Forsythe, Eliza & Kahn, Lisa B. & Lange, Fabian & Wiczer, David, 2022. "Where have all the workers gone? Recalls, retirements, and reallocation in the COVID recovery," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    11. Devos, Erik & Rahman, Shofiqur, 2023. "Does labor unemployment insurance affect corporate tax aggressiveness?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    12. Rui Fan & Ruoyu Weng & Jianping Pan, 2022. "How Property Rights Affect Firm’s Labor Investment Efficiency? Evidence from a Property Law Enactment in China," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(2), pages 381-397, January.
    13. Huasheng Gao & Huai Zhang & Jin Zhang, 2018. "Employee turnover likelihood and earnings management: evidence from the inevitable disclosure doctrine," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 1424-1470, December.
    14. Bonner, Sarah E. & Sprinkle, Geoffrey B., 2002. "The effects of monetary incentives on effort and task performance: theories, evidence, and a framework for research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 27(4-5), pages 303-345.
    15. Hausman, Jerry, 2015. "Specification tests in econometrics," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 38(2), pages 112-134.
    16. Sami Adwan & Alaa Alhaj-Ismail & Ranko Jelic, 2022. "Non-executive employee ownership and financial reporting quality: evidence from Europe," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 793-823, August.
    17. Luigi Zingales, 2000. "In Search of New Foundations," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(4), pages 1623-1653, August.
    18. Darryl B. Rice & Regina M. Taylor & Yiding Wang & Sijing Wei & Valentina Ge, 2023. "My Company Cares About My Success…I Think: Clarifying Why and When a Firm’s Ethical Reputation Impacts Employees’ Subjective Career Success," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 186(1), pages 159-177, August.
    19. Saeyoung Chang & Hoje Jo, 2019. "Employee‐friendly practices, product market competition and firm value," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1-2), pages 200-224, January.
    20. Chenyu Shan & Dragon Yongjun Tang, 2023. "The Value of Employee Satisfaction in Disastrous Times: Evidence from COVID-19," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 27(3), pages 1027-1076.
    21. 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.
    22. Qiu, Yan & Shaukat, Amama & Tharyan, Rajesh, 2016. "Environmental and social disclosures: Link with corporate financial performance," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 102-116.
    23. Wei Chen & Paul Hribar & Samuel Melessa, 2018. "Incorrect Inferences When Using Residuals as Dependent Variables," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 751-796, June.
    24. Guo, Jing & Tang, Qi & Jin, Guangzhu, 2021. "Labor protection and the efficiency of human capital investment," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 195-207.
    25. Kenneth A. Younge & Matt Marx, 2016. "The Value of Employee Retention: Evidence From a Natural Experiment," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 652-677, September.
    26. Ghaly, Mohamed & Dang, Viet Anh & Stathopoulos, Konstantinos, 2020. "Institutional investors' horizons and corporate employment decisions," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    27. Bowen, Robert M. & DuCharme, Larry & Shores, D., 1995. "Stakeholders' implicit claims and accounting method choice," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 255-295, December.
    28. Ghaly, Mohamed & Dang, Viet Anh & Stathopoulos, Konstantinos, 2015. "Cash holdings and employee welfare," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 53-70.
    29. Ali, Imran & Arslan, Ahmad & Chowdhury, Maruf & Khan, Zaheer & Tarba, Shlomo Y., 2022. "Reimagining global food value chains through effective resilience to COVID-19 shocks and similar future events: A dynamic capability perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 1-12.
    30. Schmid, Markus M. & Walter, Ingo, 2012. "Geographic diversification and firm value in the financial services industry," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 109-122.
    31. Brown, Judy, 2009. "Democracy, sustainability and dialogic accounting technologies: Taking pluralism seriously," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 313-342.
    32. Svenja Dube & Chenqi Zhu, 2021. "The Disciplinary Effect of Social Media: Evidence from Firms' Responses to Glassdoor Reviews," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(5), pages 1783-1825, December.
    33. Khedmati, Mehdi & Sualihu, Mohammed Aminu & Yawson, Alfred, 2020. "CEO-director ties and labor investment efficiency," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    34. Dennis W. Campbell & Ruidi Shang, 2022. "Tone at the Bottom: Measuring Corporate Misconduct Risk from the Text of Employee Reviews," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(9), pages 7034-7053, September.
    35. Adwan, Sami, 2024. "Does employee ownership improve labour investment efficiency? Evidence from European firms," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 238(C).
    36. Jingbo Luo & Xiaorong Li & Kam C. Chan, 2020. "Political uncertainty and labour investment efficiency," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(43), pages 4677-4697, September.
    37. Erifili-Christina Chatzopoulou & Dimitris Manolopoulos & Vasia Agapitou, 2022. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Employee Outcomes: Interrelations of External and Internal Orientations with Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 179(3), pages 795-817, September.
    38. Boochun Jung & Woo†Jong Lee & David P. Weber, 2014. "Financial Reporting Quality and Labor Investment Efficiency," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 1047-1076, December.
    39. Marshall, Ben R. & Nguyen, Justin Hung & Nguyen, Nhut H. & Visaltanachoti, Nuttawat, 2021. "Does a change in the information environment affect labor adjustment costs?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    40. Ma, Guangyuan & Kong, Dongmin & Liu, Shasha, 2023. "Credit stimulus and corporate excess employees," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    41. 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.
    42. Imen Ghadhab & Hamza Nizar & Ramzi Benkraiem & Faten Lakhal, 2023. "Cross-listing dynamics and labor investment efficiency: International evidence," Post-Print hal-04146889, HAL.
    43. Gillan, Stuart L. & Koch, Andrew & Starks, Laura T., 2021. "Firms and social responsibility: A review of ESG and CSR research in corporate finance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    44. ED deHAAN & NAN LI & FRANK S. ZHOU, 2023. "Financial Reporting and Employee Job Search," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 571-617, May.
    45. Anagnostopoulou, Seraina C. & Avgoustaki, Argyro, 2023. "The impact of human resource practices on corporate investment efficiency," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    46. Cao, Zhangfan & Rees, William, 2020. "Do employee-friendly firms invest more efficiently? Evidence from labor investment efficiency," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    47. Mohamed Ghaly & Viet Anh Dang & Konstantinos Stathopoulos, 2017. "Cash Holdings and Labor Heterogeneity: The Role of Skilled Labor," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(10), pages 3636-3668.
    48. S. Boubaker & V.A. Dang & S. Sassi, 2022. "Competitive Pressure and Firm Investment Efficiency: Evidence from Corporate Employment Decisions," Post-Print hal-04435621, HAL.
    49. Ghadhab, Imen & Nizar, Hamza & Benkraiem, Ramzi & Lakhal, Faten, 2023. "Cross-listing dynamics and labor investment efficiency: International evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    50. Cella, Cristina, 2020. "Institutional investors and corporate investment," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    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. Cao, Zhangfan & Rees, William, 2020. "Do employee-friendly firms invest more efficiently? Evidence from labor investment efficiency," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    2. Wang, Maochuan & Yan, Youliang, 2023. "Employee treatment and corporate investment efficiency: Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    3. Schopohl, Lisa & Urquhart, Andrew & Zhang, Hanxiong, 2024. "Labor investment inefficiency and LGBTQ+-friendliness," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PB).
    4. Cao, June & Li, Wenwen & Hasan, Iftekhar, 2023. "The impact of lowering carbon emissions on corporate labour investment: A quasi-natural experiment," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    5. Ee, Mong Shan & Hasan, Iftekhar & Huang, He, 2022. "Stock liquidity and corporate labor investment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    6. Ang, James & Yan, Zhenli & Xiao, Tusheng & Yuan, Chun & Wang, Jingfang, 2024. "Impact of Fintech on labor allocation efficiency in firms: Empirical evidence from China," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    7. Chowdhury, Hasibul & Hossain, Ashrafee & Masum, Abdullah-Al & Zheng, Jiayi, 2023. "Does corporate sexual orientation equality affect labor investment efficiency?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    8. Saeed, Abubakr, 2021. "The impact of employee friendly practices on dividend payments: Evidence from emerging economies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 592-605.
    9. Chowdhury, Hasibul & Estreich, Timothy & Hossain, Ashrafee & Zheng, Jiayi, 2024. "U.S. Political corruption and labor investment (in)efficiency," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    10. Gill, Balbinder Singh & Choi, Jongmoo Jay & John, Kose, 2024. "Firm leverage and employee pay: The moderating role of CEO leadership style," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 95(PA).
    11. Jia, Jing & Li, Zhongtian, 2024. "Opioid abuse and labor investment efficiency," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA), pages 1267-1285.
    12. Shuoqi Chen & Longfei Ding & Yingbing Ni, 2024. "Government Employment Target Pressure and Labor Investment Efficiency in China: A Political Economy Perspective," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(3), pages 11495-11532, September.
    13. Ghadhab, Imen & Nizar, Hamza & Benkraiem, Ramzi & Lakhal, Faten, 2023. "Cross-listing dynamics and labor investment efficiency: International evidence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    14. Becker, Mary & Cardazzi, Alexander & McGurk, Zachary, 2022. "Employee satisfaction and stock returns during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C).
    15. Shima Amini & Sofia Johan & Eilnaz Kashefi Pour & Abdulkadir Mohamed, 2023. "Employee Welfare, Social Capital, and IPO Firm Survival," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 47(6), pages 2174-2204, November.
    16. Li, Bin & Zhao, Qizi & Shahab, Yasir & Kumar, Satish, 2023. "High-speed rail construction and labor investment efficiency: Evidence from an emerging market," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    17. Mary Becker & Alexander Cardazzi & Zachary McGurk, 2021. "Employee satisfaction and stock returns during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Working Papers 21-02, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    18. Lai, Shaojie & Li, Xiaorong & Liu, Shiang & Wang, Qing Sophie, 2022. "Institutional investors’ site visits and corporate employment decision-making," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3).
    19. Vuong Thao Tran & Van Hoang Vu & Anh Le & Dinh Hoang Bach Phan, 2024. "Does it pay to treat employees well?: The case of informal finance," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1-2), pages 473-510, January.
    20. Wang, Li & Dai, Yunhao & Kong, Dongmin, 2021. "Air pollution and employee treatment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labour investment efficiency; Employee satisfaction; Employee retention; Labour shortages;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • J54 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Producer Cooperatives; Labor Managed Firms
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General

    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:eee:finana:v:96:y:2024:i:pa:s1057521924005027. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/620166 .

    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.