The Effects of Industry Type, Company Size and Performance on Chinese Companies’ IC Disclosure: A Research Note

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of industry type, firm size and corporate performance on intellectual capital (IC) disclosure among Chinese (mainland) companies. It was found that industry type did not have a significant influence on IC reporting practices of Chinese firms; the larger firms generally reported more IC information than the relatively smaller firms; and there was a positive relationship between corporate performance and IC disclosure. This paper contributes to fairly limited literature regarding the associations between the level of IC disclosure and a variety of relevant impact factors, in particular in the Chinese mainland context. In addition, the findings of this research provide some references for policy-makers while developing an IC reporting framework applicable to the Chinese environment.

Keywords

• Intellectual capital
• Disclosure
• Industry
• Size
• Performance