Taking Stock of Work-Family Initiatives: How Announcements of Family-Friendly Human Resource Decisions Affect Shareholder Value

Posted: 22 Jul 2004

See all articles by Michelle M. Arthur

Michelle M. Arthur

Purdue University - Department of Management

Alison Cook

Utah State University

Abstract

This study examines share price reactions to 231 work-family human resource policies adopted by Fortune 500 companies and announced in the Wall Street Journal between 1971 and 1996. Consistent with past research, the results suggest that firm announcements of work-family initiatives positively affected shareholder return. The authors also empirically test three hypotheses concerning how the timing of work-family initiatives influences shareholder reaction. They find that a pioneering company announcing the first-ever implementation of a work-family initiative was likely to realize a larger announcement-day share price increase than did later adopters of the same initiative; the first work-family announcement released by a firm influenced announcement-day share price more than did successive work-family announcements by the same firm; and share price reactions to work-family human resource decisions were not importantly affected by whether those decisions followed a gender discrimination suit.

Keywords: Work-family policies, work-family policies and shareholder value

JEL Classification: J28, G30, G31

Suggested Citation

Arthur, Michelle M. and Cook, Alison, Taking Stock of Work-Family Initiatives: How Announcements of Family-Friendly Human Resource Decisions Affect Shareholder Value. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=567369

Michelle M. Arthur (Contact Author)

Purdue University - Department of Management ( email )

West Lafayette, IN 47907-1310
United States
765-494-4445 (Phone)
765-494-9658 (Fax)

Alison Cook

Utah State University ( email )

3500 Old Main Hill
Logan, UT 84322-3530
United States
435-797-7654 (Phone)
435-797-1091 (Fax)

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