Culture of Health Reporting in the Proxy Statements of Large Technology Companies: A Textual Analysis
Creators: name: Rowen, Neil
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2021
Subjects: Natural language processing
Public health
Social responsibility of business

description: Research Objective: In recent years there has been increased interest from academics and organizational leaders in creating a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) to reflect how private sector companies either promote or undermine public health. However, methods to assess how companies engage in a culture of health that affects employees, consumers, communities, and the environment are limited. Additionally, the heterogeneity of corporate mission statements and the myriad of potential inputs to evaluate creates challenges in developing such an assessment. The objective of this exploratory study is to develop a scalable and accurate natural language processing model for analyzing culture of health themes from written reports. Data on the engagement in a culture of health from the proxy statements of 18 large technology companies from 2010-2020 will be reported. 
Study Design: I developed a model of supervised machine learning which utilizes a logistic regression classifier. A simple random sample of proxy statements from companies in the S&P 500 from 2010-2020 was thematically coded and used to train the natural language processing algorithms which make up the larger model. This was used to characterize health themes in proxy statements which are relatively standardized and communicate a company’s long-term value proposition. I measured the number of sentences related to a culture of health and key themes from a separate qualitative analysis.
Population Studied: The proxy statements of 18 large U.S. technology companies consisting of pairs across 9 sub-industries were evaluated. Statements from 2010-2020 were obtained from the Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval (EDGAR) system managed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 
Principal Findings: The logistic regression classifier was moderately successful (accuracy = 0.981, precision = 0.508, recall = 0.625) at extracting health text from proxy statements. There was a 3.69x increase in the prevalence of health themes from 2010-2020. Statistical differences were identified between pairs of sub-industries and companies over the study period. 
Conclusions: Companies, directly and indirectly, shape the environment in which people make decisions about their health. Previous research suggests that proxy statements may be an ideal source to elucidate how a company is seeking to create long-term value toward health. A model was developed and can be applied to a variety of industry sectors and reports. The present textual analysis characterizes how a sample of large technology companies represent their engagement in a culture of health and will contribute to the development of a future comprehensive HIA.
Implications for Policy or Practice: These methods can be leveraged for replicability across a variety of contexts, allowing a range of stakeholders to assess the extent to which different companies cultivate a culture of health. Embedding a culture of health into a company’s mission can create trust, employee purpose, and customer loyalty. Building a comprehensive HIA will not only benefit public health by increasing accountability but will also benefit corporations through creating opportunities to promote long-term sustainability.