Voluntary Disclosure of Intellectual Capital: The Case Of Family And Non-Family Businesses In Jordan

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of firm’s characteristics (family vs. non- family firms) on disclosure behaviour regarding intellectual capital. The sample is composed of 201 firms from Amman Stock Exchange in 2018. First, this study differentiates three categories of intellectual capital: structural capital, relational capital, and human capital. Second, it examines the influence of the size, the profitability, the leverage, and the industry on the importance of intellectual capital disclosure. The study shows that family firms disclose more intellectual capital information than non- family firms. The results also show that the industry and the size have a significant and positive influence, that profitability and the leverage have a significant and negative influence on capital intellectual disclosure. Furthermore, Jordan family firms seem to disclose more about intellectual capital than Jordan non-family firms do.