Public reporting of HRM practices among selected Hong Kong companies

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and scope of corporate public reporting of human resource management (HRM) practices in selected Hong Kong companies, to identify the extent and emphasis in the reporting systems. Design/methodology/approach – Content analysis was used as a primary method. Company official Annual Reports and web sites were employed as data sources. The paper builds on the process of evaluating HRM reporting by Vuontisjärvi. Findings – Insufficient HRM practice was reported with inconsistency in the reported items across the public documents. There was an absence of reporting on HRM metrics. Training and development was the most frequently reported item. Research limitations/implications – This study was biased toward larger corporations in Hong Kong. The samples were not representative. Practical implications – This study showed that there was considerable potential for Hong Kong companies to develop more informative and comprehensive public HRM reporting. While there has been a strong pressure for companies to engage in more extensive public reporting, this pressure did not appear to have had an effect on the selected Hong Kong companies. Originality/value – The paper is one of the first to examine public HRM reporting practice in major Hong Kong companies.