In the first essay, I study the relationship between a firm's employee satisfaction and the firm's stock return, using Glassdoor data. First, I find that human capital is a valuable firm asset. Stock portfolios of firms with high employee satisfaction earn positive risk-adjusted returns. Second, contrary to the finding of Green et al. 2019, I find that firms with declining employee satisfaction outperform firms with improving employee satisfaction. Third, I find that change of employee satisfaction is associated with future accounting profitability but not with stock idiosyncratic volatility after controlling firm characteristics. In the second essay, I study the hedge fund activism's impact on target firms and employees of target firms. Hedge fund activism has grown rapidly over the last thirty years. Prior literature shows that hedge fund activism improves target firms' value and operational performance. However, whether such improvement is beneficial to target firms in the long-term is under debate in academic circles. In this study, I study the impact of hedge fund activism through the eyes of the employees of target firms. I find that hedge fund activism has a negative impact on the business of target firms. I also find that hedge fund activism reduces employees' career opportunities within target firms. The reduction of career opportunities corroborates studies showing that target firms lose valuable human capital after hedge fund activism. Overall, my study is consistent with a strand of burgeoning literature showing that hedge fund activism delivers negative impact to target firms and their employees.
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