Human Capital Disclosure and Corporate Value in Japanese Firms: A Text Mining

The visualization of non-financial information has become a global trend in recent years. In Japan, listed companies have been required to disclose human capital information in securities reports since the fiscal year ending March 31, 2023. Despite this institutional advancement, how employee well-being can be translated into the enhancement of corporate value over the medium to long term remains an unresolved issue. Prior studies on human capital disclosure have not sufficiently clarified the relationship between well-being-related disclosure content and corporate value. To address this gap, this study examines the association between corporate value and narratives regarding employee well-being by conducting text mining analysis of annual securities reports. We collected descriptive data related to "human capital" from the securities reports of well-being-oriented firms for the fiscal year ending March 2024 and analyzed the textual characteristics using firm value (high versus low) as an external variable. The results reveal that firms with high corporate value emphasize employee engagement, organizational climate, and support for "each individuall" as key elements linking employee well-being to corporate value, thereby fostering a sense of unity within the organization. In contrast, firms with low corporate value tend to employ discourses that shift responsibility for well-being to individuals, indicating a lack of substantive investment in human capital. These findings suggest that clarifying the mechanisms through which employee well-being contributes to sustainable corporate value is essential. This study contributes to the literature by integrating qualitative disclosure content with financial indicators to identify well-being initiatives associated with higher corporate value.