IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/finlet/v69y2024ipbs1544612324011735.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Industrial robot use and corporate real earnings management: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Teng, Huiyang
  • Li, Xiaoshuo
  • Liu, Yuyan

Abstract

Industrial robots (IRs) are becoming an increasingly important production technology in the global manufacturing industry. Using Chinese A-share listed manufacturing companies as a research sample, this study identifies that using IRs significantly restricts corporate real earnings management (REM). Specifically, IRs reduce information asymmetry, improve product market performance, and enhance the incentive effect of executive compensation, thereby weakening executives’ self-benefit motives and increasing the cost of implementing REM. These findings underscore the role of IRs in corporate governance, allowing for a better understanding of robots’ microeconomic consequences and guiding future corporate governance practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Teng, Huiyang & Li, Xiaoshuo & Liu, Yuyan, 2024. "Industrial robot use and corporate real earnings management: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 69(PB).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:69:y:2024:i:pb:s1544612324011735
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2024.106144
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1544612324011735
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.frl.2024.106144?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jay Dixon & Bryan Hong & Lynn Wu, 2021. "The Robot Revolution: Managerial and Employment Consequences for Firms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5586-5605, September.
    2. Bergstresser, Daniel & Philippon, Thomas, 2006. "CEO incentives and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 511-529, June.
    3. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2005. "The economic implications of corporate financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-3), pages 3-73, December.
    4. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1997. "A Survey of Corporate Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 737-783, June.
    5. Lene Kromann & Nikolaj Malchow-Møller & Jan Rose Skaksen & Anders Sørensen, 2020. "Automation and productivity—a cross-country, cross-industry comparison," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 29(2), pages 265-287.
    6. Francisco Gomes & Thomas Jansson & Yigitcan Karabulut, 2024. "Do Robots Increase Wealth Dispersion?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 37(1), pages 119-160.
    7. Lankisch, Clemens & Prettner, Klaus & Prskawetz, Alexia, 2019. "How can robots affect wage inequality?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 161-169.
    8. Wang, Lei & Zhou, Yahong & Chiao, Benjamin, 2023. "Robots and firm innovation: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    9. Datta, Sudip & Iskandar-Datta, Mai & Singh, Vivek, 2013. "Product market power, industry structure, and corporate earnings management," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3273-3285.
    10. Jie (Jack) He & Jiekun Huang, 2017. "Product Market Competition in a World of Cross-Ownership: Evidence from Institutional Blockholdings," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(8), pages 2674-2718.
    11. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2020. "Robots and Jobs: Evidence from US Labor Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(6), pages 2188-2244.
    12. Acemoglu, Daron & Autor, David, 2011. "Skills, Tasks and Technologies: Implications for Employment and Earnings," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 12, pages 1043-1171, Elsevier.
    13. Christopher Armstrong & George Foster & Daniel Taylor, 2016. "Abnormal Accruals in Newly Public Companies: Opportunistic Misreporting or Economic Activity?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(5), pages 1316-1338, May.
    14. Yang, Wenju & Wang, Dongmei, 2023. "Can industrial robot applications help cross the middle-income trap? — Empirical evidence based on crossed-country panel data," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    15. Cohen, Daniel A. & Zarowin, Paul, 2010. "Accrual-based and real earnings management activities around seasoned equity offerings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 2-19, May.
    16. Gregory S. Miller, 2006. "The Press as a Watchdog for Accounting Fraud," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5), pages 1001-1033, December.
    17. Roychowdhury, Sugata, 2006. "Earnings management through real activities manipulation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(3), pages 335-370, December.
    18. Farrell, Kathleen & Unlu, Emre & Yu, Jin, 2014. "Stock repurchases as an earnings management mechanism: The impact of financing constraints," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 1-15.
    19. Cui, Huijie & Liang, Shangkun & Xu, Canyu & Junli, Yu, 2024. "Robots and analyst forecast precision: Evidence from Chinese manufacturing," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    20. Ahsan Habib & Dinithi Ranasinghe & Julia Yonghua Wu & Pallab Kumar Biswas & Fawad Ahmad, 2022. "Real earnings management: A review of the international literature," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(4), pages 4279-4344, December.
    21. Rajiv D. Banker & Danlu Bu & Mihir N. Mehta, 2016. "Pay Gap and Performance in China," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 52(3), pages 501-531, September.
    22. Healy, Paul M. & Palepu, Krishna G., 2001. "Information asymmetry, corporate disclosure, and the capital markets: A review of the empirical disclosure literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 405-440, September.
    23. Richardson, Vernon J, 2000. "Information Asymmetry and Earnings Management: Some Evidence," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 325-347, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Li, Yi & Wang, Pengfei & Zhang, Wei, 2023. "Individual investors matter: The effect of investor-firm interactions on corporate earnings management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    2. Liao, Tsai-Ling & Lin, Wen-Chun, 2016. "Product market competition and earnings management around open-market repurchase announcements," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 187-203.
    3. Alexandre Garel & Jose Martin-Flores & Arthur Petit-Romec & Ayesha Scott, 2021. "Institutional investor distraction and earnings management," Post-Print hal-03096196, HAL.
    4. Michał Kałdoński & Tomasz Jewartowski, 2024. "Governance through exit: Pension fund reform impact on real earnings management of portfolio companies," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 63(4), pages 1349-1389, November.
    5. Fargher, Neil & Wee, Marvin, 2019. "The impact of Ball and Brown (1968) on generations of research," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 55-72.
    6. Yangyang Chen & C. S. Agnes Cheng & Shuo Li & Jingran Zhao, 2021. "The monitoring role of the media: Evidence from earnings management," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3-4), pages 533-563, March.
    7. Elmawazini, Khaled & Galariotis, Emilios & Hossain, Ashrafee T. & Rjiba, Hatem, 2024. "Federal judge ideology and real earnings management," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    8. Sun, Kunpeng & Wang, Dan & Xiao, Xing, 2022. "Another victory of retail investors: Social media's monitoring role on firms' earnings management," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    9. Li, Ting & Zaiats, Nataliya, 2017. "Information environment and earnings management of dual class firms around the world," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1-23.
    10. Pallab Kumar Biswas & Dinithi Ranasinghe & Eric K. M. Tan, 2023. "Impact of product market competition on real activity manipulation: Moderating role of managerial ability," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(1), pages 247-275, March.
    11. Chowdhury, Hasibul & Hodgson, Allan & Pathan, Shams, 2020. "Do external labour market incentives constrain bad news hoarding? The CEO's industry tournament and crash risk reduction," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    12. Garel, Alexandre & Martin-Flores, Jose M. & Petit-Romec, Arthur & Scott, Ayesha, 2021. "Institutional investor distraction and earnings management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    13. Roychowdhury, Sugata & Shroff, Nemit & Verdi, Rodrigo S., 2019. "The effects of financial reporting and disclosure on corporate investment: A review," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2).
    14. Wang, Teng-Shih & Lin, Yi-Mien & Werner, Edward M. & Chang, Hsihui, 2018. "The relationship between external financing activities and earnings management: Evidence from enterprise risk management," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 312-329.
    15. Bill Hu & Joon Ho Hwang & Christine Jiang, 2014. "The Impact of Earnings Guidance Cessation on Information Asymmetry," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(1-2), pages 73-99, January.
    16. Saeed Siyal, Waqas Ahmed, Muhammad Musa Kaleem, Lulu Wang, 2020. "Determinants of Real Earning Management: A Study in Public Listed Companies in Pakistan Stock Exchange," Journal of Finance and Economics Research, Geist Science, Iqra University, Faculty of Business Administration, vol. 5(2), pages 96-111, October.
    17. Alaa Mansour Zalata & Collins Ntim & Ahmed Aboud & Ernest Gyapong, 2019. "Female CEOs and Core Earnings Quality: New Evidence on the Ethics Versus Risk-Aversion Puzzle," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(2), pages 515-534, December.
    18. Özgür, Arslan-Ayaydin & Thewissen, James & Torsin, Wouter, 2021. "Earnings Management Methods and CEO Political Affiliation," LIDAM Discussion Papers LFIN 2021017, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain Finance (LFIN).
    19. repec:spt:apfiba:v::y:2018:i::f:8_2_2 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Fang, Ming & Francis, Bill & Hasan, Iftekhar & Wu, Qiang, 2022. "External social networks and earnings management," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(2).
    21. Zhou, Zhongsheng & Li, Zhuo & Du, Shanzhong & Cao, June, 2024. "Robot adoption and enterprise R&D manipulation: Evidence from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Industrial robot; Real earnings management; Information asymmetry; Product market performance; Executive compensation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

    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:eee:finlet:v:69:y:2024:i:pb:s1544612324011735. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/frl .

    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.