Voluntary Intellectual Capital Disclosure and Information Asymmetry: Study of Indian Firms

Abstract

This article develops a disclosure index to examine the extent and quality of intellectual capital disclosure in Indian firms. Furthermore, it assesses the gap between stakeholder expectations and industry disclosure procedures by conducting five years database analysis. To analyze the extent and quality of intellectual capital disclosure, a content analysis technique was applied to a sample of 30 non-financial firms listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange for five years, 2018–2022. A disclosure index of 42 items was constructed based on previous studies under three intellectual capital categories: Structural Capital, Relational Capital, and Human Capital. It was found that Indian companies had a low level of intellectual capital disclosure, although it increased by 28% from 2018 to 2022. Also, there was an upward movement in the disclosure of all intellectual capital components. Structural capital is disclosed by the number of organizations, whereas human capital is being disclosed the lowest. This study developed a new disclosure index consisting of 42 intellectual capital items based on extant research conferred by experts. In addition, the study considered a Sensex non-financial company for the analysis. Third, this study uses graphs to represent disclosure quality.