The effects of non-financial reporting legislation on human resource management practices and corporate governance in Germany and Poland. Analyzing the impacts of Directive 2014/95/EU

• Applicants: Professorin Dr. Marion Festing; Professor Dr. Ihar Sahakiants; Professor Dr. Thomas Steger
• Subject Area: Accounting and Finance
• Term: from 2019 to 2024
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 426661955

This research project is dedicated to the analysis of the impact of Directive 2014/95/EU, as translated to the national law in Germany and Poland, on the organizational practices and corporate governance in these countries. For the purpose of the present research, we focus on listed companies that by law need to comply with the regulations concerning non-financial reporting and guidelines on corporate governance disclosure.The main objectives of this research project are as follows:1. To identify the state of compliance of German and Polish companies with the national laws in Poland (Amendment of Accounting Act of 15 December 2016) and Germany (CSR Directive Implementation Act of 11 April 2017) implementing the Directive 2014/95/EU on non-financial reporting.2. To identify the impact of the national legislation implementing Directive 2014/95/EU on the scope and quality of non-financial disclosure related to HRM practices and corporate governance in the context of specific corporate governance (ownership structure, concentration, board diversity, performance) and organizational (industry of operation, size, market concentration) configurations.3. To investigate the impact of the national legislation implementing Directive 2014/95/EU on factual HRM practices and corporate governance arrangements in a sample of companies analyzed when pursuing the first two research objectives above. In doing so, we plan to study the effects of the related laws not only with respect to the disclosure (or rhetoric) of the enterprises concerned, but also – and more importantly – as regards the real changes of organizational practices and corporate governance configurations such as increased implementation of socially responsible HRM activities or growing diversity of the management boards.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Poland
• Partner Organisation: Narodowe Centrum Nauki (NCN)
• Cooperation Partner: Professorin Maria Aluchna, Ph.D.