Abstract:

This study examined human rights reporting practices across companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, by looking at both the extent of human rights disclosure and the coercive determinants of that extent, in particular the potential pressure from the regulator that requires mandatory human rights disclosure under the Directive 2014/95/EU (Directive).

The sample comprised 71 selected listed companies over 6 years Content analysis was used to measure the extent of human rights disclosure. Panel data analysis was undertaken and the econometric random effect model was estimated.

The Directive enforcement is associated with the extent of human rights disclosure. Also, inclusion in the Respect Index is positively related to human rights reporting, while UN Global Compact participation did not turn out to influence human rights reporting.

Our study contributes to the understanding of the impact of Directive and other coercive variables on human rights disclosure, a specific subset of CSR reporting. In particular, it presents the contribution of accounting in promoting human rights and effective enforcement of corporate responsibility for respecting human rights.