Data & Methodology
Methods
Methodology, topic taxonomy, and dataset coverage.
Methodology
The social exposure measures are constructed from corporate earnings conference call transcripts. We identify all social discussions and decompose them into 20 topics using a structured LLM taxonomy geneartion approach. The 20 topics are then grouped into 5 economic domains (Employee Welfare, DEI, Stakeholder Outreach, Ethical Commitment, and Crisis Response), plus an overall Social Exposure measure that aggregates all dimensions.
All measures are computed as (sentences devoted to specific social topic / total sentences in the conference call) × 1000 at the firm level per period.
For a detailed description of the methodology, please refer to our paper:
Liu, Sautner, van Lent, Vilkov, and Zhang. “Unpacking Social Exposure.”
The full dataset with firm-year and firm-quarter level data is available on our OSF repository: https://osf.io/kawbj
Topic Taxonomy
The 20 social topics are organized into 5 domains as follows:
| Domain | Topic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Employee Welfare | Employee Welfare and Engagement | Focus on employee health, safety, and skill enhancement. |
| Remote Work Policies | Focus on remote work and flexible schedules. | |
| Mental Health Support | Support for mental health awareness and resources. | |
| Ethical Commitment | Ethical Practices | Commitment to ethical practices and governance. |
| Product and Customer Safety | Ensure product safety and quality. | |
| Consumer Privacy and Data Protection | Ensuring consumer data protection and privacy. | |
| Sustainable Practices | Commitment to sustainable practices and reducing impact. | |
| Social Equity and Justice | Initiatives addressing social equity and systemic inequalities. | |
| DEI | Diversity Equity and Inclusion | Promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workforce. |
| Gender Equality | Commitment to gender equality and women's advancement. | |
| Stakeholder Outreach | Community Engagement and Development | Efforts to engage communities and support wellbeing. |
| Healthcare Access and Innovation | Improving healthcare access and innovating solutions. | |
| Affordable Housing | Addressing housing affordability and availability. | |
| Impact Investment | Balancing returns with positive social impacts. | |
| Education Support | Investments supporting education and academic outcomes. | |
| Economic and Financial Inclusion | Promote economic and financial access to consumers. | |
| Social Innovation | Innovative social impact practices. | |
| Supplier Responsibility | Ensuring ethical and sustainable supplier practices. | |
| Crisis Response | Crisis Response and Management | Corporate actions during crises like pandemics or disasters. |
| Humanitarian Aid | Support during crises and disaster relief. |