IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jfnres/v44y2021i3p513-552.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of investor attention on fraud discovery and value loss in securities class action litigation

Author

Listed:
  • Anna Abdulmanova
  • Stephen P. Ferris
  • Narayanan Jayaraman
  • Pratik Kothari

Abstract

We examine the effect of investor attention on value loss due to securities class action lawsuits and litigation‐based fraud discovery. We find that investor attention is positively associated with damage to corporate reputation and the magnitude of the value losses suffered by defendant firms. The reputational damage to defendant firms with higher investor attention is evident from poor operational performance and lower institutional ownership after filing. Investor attention is positively associated with the diffusion of information regarding fraud and it accelerates lawsuit filing. The effects of investor attention, however, are not subsumed by the severity of the fraud. Our results are robust to a battery of tests that addresses selection and endogeneity concerns.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Abdulmanova & Stephen P. Ferris & Narayanan Jayaraman & Pratik Kothari, 2021. "The effect of investor attention on fraud discovery and value loss in securities class action litigation," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 44(3), pages 513-552, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jfnres:v:44:y:2021:i:3:p:513-552
    DOI: 10.1111/jfir.12249
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jfir.12249
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jfir.12249?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tarun Chordia & Sahn-Wook Huh & Avanidhar Subrahmanyam, 2007. "The Cross-Section of Expected Trading Activity," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(3), pages 709-740.
    2. Bhagat, Sanjai & Brickley, James A. & Coles, Jeffrey L., 1994. "The costs of inefficient bargaining and financial distress *1: Evidence from corporate lawsuits," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 221-247, April.
    3. Bizjak, John M & Coles, Jeffrey L, 1995. "The Effect of Private Antitrust Litigation on the Stock-Market Valuation of the Firm," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 436-461, June.
    4. Landes, William M & Posner, Richard A, 1987. "Trademark Law: An Economic Perspective," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(2), pages 265-309, October.
    5. Vega, Clara, 2006. "Stock price reaction to public and private information," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 103-133, October.
    6. Jarrell, Gregg & Peltzman, Sam, 1985. "The Impact of Product Recalls on the Wealth of Sellers," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(3), pages 512-536, June.
    7. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 2015. "A five-factor asset pricing model," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 1-22.
    8. Michael S. Drake & Darren T. Roulstone & Jacob R. Thornock, 2012. "Investor Information Demand: Evidence from Google Searches Around Earnings Announcements," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(4), pages 1001-1040, September.
    9. Kenneth R. Ahern & Denis Sosyura, 2014. "Who Writes the News? Corporate Press Releases during Merger Negotiations," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(1), pages 241-291, February.
    10. Marcin Kacperczyk & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh & Laura Veldkamp, 2016. "A Rational Theory of Mutual Funds' Attention Allocation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 84, pages 571-626, March.
    11. Azi Ben-Rephael & Zhi Da & Ryan D. Israelsen, 2017. "It Depends on Where You Search: Institutional Investor Attention and Underreaction to News," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(9), pages 3009-3047.
    12. Sanjai Bhagat & John Bizjak & Jeffrey L. Coles, 1998. "The Shareholder Wealth Implications of Corporate Lawsuits," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 27(4), Winter.
    13. Gande, Amar & Lewis, Craig M., 2009. "Shareholder-Initiated Class Action Lawsuits: Shareholder Wealth Effects and Industry Spillovers," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(4), pages 823-850, August.
    14. Romano, Roberta, 1991. "The Shareholder Suit: Litigation without Foundation?," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(1), pages 55-87, Spring.
    15. Eric K. Kelley & Paul C. Tetlock, 2017. "Retail Short Selling and Stock Prices," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 801-834.
    16. Claire Liu & Angie Low & Ronald W Masulis & Le Zhang & Wei Jiang, 2020. "Monitoring the Monitor: Distracted Institutional Investors and Board Governance," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(10), pages 4489-4531.
    17. Asquith, Paul & Pathak, Parag A. & Ritter, Jay R., 2005. "Short interest, institutional ownership, and stock returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 243-276, November.
    18. Barber, Brad M. & Lyon, John D., 1996. "Detecting abnormal operating performance: The empirical power and specification of test statistics," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 359-399, July.
    19. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2008. "All That Glitters: The Effect of Attention and News on the Buying Behavior of Individual and Institutional Investors," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(2), pages 785-818, April.
    20. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    21. Karpoff, Jonathan M & Lott, John R, Jr, 1993. "The Reputational Penalty Firms Bear from Committing Criminal Fraud," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(2), pages 757-802, October.
    22. Agnes Cheng, C.S. & He Huang, Henry & Li, Yinghua & Lobo, Gerald, 2010. "Institutional monitoring through shareholder litigation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 356-383, March.
    23. Kothari, S.P. & Leone, Andrew J. & Wasley, Charles E., 2005. "Performance matched discretionary accrual measures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 163-197, February.
    24. Engelmann, Kathleen & Cornell, Bradford, 1988. "Measuring the Cost of Corporate Litigation: Five Case Studies," The Journal of Legal Studies, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(2), pages 377-399, June.
    25. Karpoff, Jonathan M. & Lee, D. Scott & Martin, Gerald S., 2008. "The Cost to Firms of Cooking the Books," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 43(3), pages 581-611, September.
    26. JOSEPH A. McCAHERY & ZACHARIAS SAUTNER & LAURA T. STARKS, 2016. "Behind the Scenes: The Corporate Governance Preferences of Institutional Investors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(6), pages 2905-2932, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Li, Wen & Peng, Qing, 2023. "Digital courts and corporate investment in sustainability: Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. James Malm & Srinidhi Kanuri, 2017. "Litigation risk and cash holdings," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 41(4), pages 679-700, October.
    2. James Malm & Marcin Krolikowski, 2017. "Litigation risk and financial leverage," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 41(1), pages 180-194, January.
    3. Arena, Matteo P. & Ferris, Stephen P., 2018. "A global analysis of corporate litigation risk and costs," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 28-41.
    4. James Malm & Hari P. Adhikari & Marcin Krolikowski & Nilesh Sah, 2017. "Litigation risk and investment policy," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 41(4), pages 829-840, October.
    5. Lin, Hsien-Ping & Walker, M. Mark & Wang, Yung-Jang, 2020. "Shareholder wealth effects of corporate fraud: Evidence from Taiwan’s securities investor and futures trader protection act," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 222-243.
    6. Liu, Chelsea & Aharony, Joseph & Richardson, Grant & Yawson, Alfred, 2016. "Corporate litigation and changes in CEO reputation: Guidance from U.S. Federal Court lawsuits," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 15-34.
    7. Qin, Jiaqi & Yang, Xue & He, Qing & Sun, Lingxia, 2021. "Litigation risk and cost of capital: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    8. Malm, James & Soyeh, Kenneth W. & Kanuri, Srinidhi, 2023. "Litigation risk and corporate performance," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    9. Mazur, Mieszko & Salganik-Shoshan, Galla & Walker, Thomas & Wang, Jun, 2018. "Proximity and litigation: Evidence from the geographic location of institutional investors," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 60-74.
    10. Sanjai Bhagat & Roberta Romano, "undated". "Event Studies and the Law--Part I: Technique and Corporate Litigation," Yale Law School John M. Olin Center for Studies in Law, Economics, and Public Policy Working Paper Series yale_lepp-1021, Yale Law School John M. Olin Center for Studies in Law, Economics, and Public Policy.
    11. Flore, Christian & Kolaric, Sascha & Schiereck, Dirk, 2017. "Settlement agreement types of federal corporate prosecution in the U.S. and their impact on shareholder wealth," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 145-158.
    12. Laure, de Batz, 2020. "Financial crime spillovers. Does one gain to be avenged?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 196-215.
    13. Sanjai Bhagat & Roberta Romano, 2001. "Event Studies and the Law - Part I: Technique and Corporate Litigation," Yale School of Management Working Papers amz2475, Yale School of Management, revised 01 Jan 2002.
    14. Flore, Christian & Degryse, Hans & Kolaric, Sascha & Schiereck, Dirk, 2021. "Forgive me all my sins: How penalties imposed on banks travel through markets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    15. Sanjai Bhagat & Roberta Romano, 2001. "Event Studies and the Law - Part I: Technique and Corporate Litigation," Yale School of Management Working Papers amz2475, Yale School of Management, revised 01 Jan 2002.
    16. Aharony, Joseph & Liu, Chelsea & Yawson, Alfred, 2015. "Corporate litigation and executive turnover," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 268-292.
    17. Brada, Josef C. & Chen, Chunda & Jia, Jingyi & Kutan, Ali M. & Perez, M. Fabricio, 2022. "Value creation and value destruction in investor-state dispute arbitration," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    18. Hongling Guo & Zuoping Xiao, 2021. "Effect of severe litigation and bank connection on bank financing in China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 3883-3914, September.
    19. Kubick, Thomas R. & Lockhart, G. Brandon & Mauer, David C., 2023. "Judge ideology and debt contracting," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    20. Omer Unsal & M. Kabir Hassan, 2020. "Employee lawsuits and capital structure," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 663-704, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jfnres:v:44:y:2021:i:3:p:513-552. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sfaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.