IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v65y2019i1p439-457.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Connections Within Executive Teams and Management Forecasts

Author

Listed:
  • Ruihao Ke

    (Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275)

  • Meng Li

    (Naveen Jindal School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75080)

  • Zhejia Ling

    (Debbie and Jerry Ivy College of Business, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011)

  • Yuan Zhang

    (Naveen Jindal School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas 75080)

Abstract

We examine the role of teamwork within the top executive teams in generating management forecasts. Using social connections within the executive team to capture the team’s interaction, cooperation, and teamwork, we find that social connections among team members are associated with higher management forecast accuracy, consistent with economic theories that information is dispersed within a firm and with sociology insights that social connections facilitate information sharing. Further analyses show that the association between social connections and forecast accuracy is stronger when the teams are just beginning to work together, when their firms face more uncertainty or adversity, and when the CEOs are less powerful. Our results hold for a subsample of executive teams that experience pseudo exogenous shocks to their social connectedness. Taken together, our results underscore the importance of teamwork among executives in the forecast generation process.

Suggested Citation

  • Ruihao Ke & Meng Li & Zhejia Ling & Yuan Zhang, 2019. "Social Connections Within Executive Teams and Management Forecasts," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(1), pages 439-457, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:65:y:2019:i:1:p:439-457
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2017.2925
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2017.2925
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.2017.2925?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. Lauren Cohen & Andrea Frazzini & Christopher Malloy, 2010. "Sell‐Side School Ties," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(4), pages 1409-1437, August.
    2. Bamber, LS & Cheon, YS, 1998. "Discretionary management earnings forecast disclosures: Antecedents and outcomes associated with forecast venue and forecast specificity choices," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 167-190.
    3. Anzhela Knyazeva & Diana Knyazeva & Ronald W. Masulis, 2013. "The Supply of Corporate Directors and Board Independence," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(6), pages 1561-1605.
    4. Bok Baik & David B. Farber & Sam (Sunghan) Lee, 2011. "CEO Ability and Management Earnings Forecasts," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1645-1668, December.
    5. Engelberg, Joseph & Gao, Pengjie & Parsons, Christopher A., 2012. "Friends with money," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 169-188.
    6. Waymire, G, 1985. "Earnings Volatility And Voluntary Management Forecast Disclosure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 268-295.
    7. Trueman, Brett, 1986. "Why do managers voluntarily release earnings forecasts?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 53-71, March.
    8. Badertscher, Brad & Shroff, Nemit & White, Hal D., 2013. "Externalities of public firm presence: Evidence from private firms' investment decisions," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(3), pages 682-706.
    9. Bipin Ajinkya & Sanjeev Bhojraj & Partha Sengupta, 2005. "The Association between Outside Directors, Institutional Investors and the Properties of Management Earnings Forecasts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 343-376, June.
    10. Deborah Gladstein Ancona & David F. Caldwell, 1992. "Demography and Design: Predictors of New Product Team Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(3), pages 321-341, August.
    11. Li, Feng, 2008. "Annual report readability, current earnings, and earnings persistence," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2-3), pages 221-247, August.
    12. Larcker, David F. & So, Eric C. & Wang, Charles C.Y., 2013. "Boardroom centrality and firm performance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 225-250.
    13. Li, Feng & Minnis, Michael & Nagar, Venky & Rajan, Madhav, 2014. "Knowledge, compensation, and firm value: An empirical analysis of firm communication," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 96-116.
    14. Custódio, Cláudia & Metzger, Daniel, 2014. "Financial expert CEOs: CEO׳s work experience and firm׳s financial policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(1), pages 125-154.
    15. Ran Duchin & Denis Sosyura, 2013. "Divisional Managers and Internal Capital Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 68(2), pages 387-429, April.
    16. Fama, Eugene F & MacBeth, James D, 1973. "Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 607-636, May-June.
    17. Christopher D. Ittner & Jeremy Michels, 2017. "Risk-based forecasting and planning and management earnings forecasts," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1005-1047, September.
    18. Yang, Holly I., 2012. "Capital market consequences of managers' voluntary disclosure styles," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 167-184.
    19. Francis, Jennifer & LaFond, Ryan & Olsson, Per & Schipper, Katherine, 2005. "The market pricing of accruals quality," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 295-327, June.
    20. Cesare Fracassi & Geoffrey Tate, 2012. "External Networking and Internal Firm Governance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(1), pages 153-194, February.
    21. Christophe Boone & Walter Hendriks, 2009. "Top Management Team Diversity and Firm Performance: Moderators of Functional-Background and Locus-of-Control Diversity," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(2), pages 165-180, February.
    22. Dichev, Ilia D. & Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2013. "Earnings quality: Evidence from the field," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 1-33.
    23. Martin Kilduff & Reinhard Angelmar & Ajay Mehra, 2000. "Top Management-Team Diversity and Firm Performance: Examining the Role of Cognitions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(1), pages 21-34, February.
    24. Francis, J & Philbrick, D & Schipper, K, 1994. "Shareholder Litigation And Corporate Disclosures," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(2), pages 137-164.
    25. Karen A. Bantel & Susan E. Jackson, 1989. "Top management and innovations in banking: Does the composition of the top team make a difference?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(S1), pages 107-124, June.
    26. Nemit Shroff, 2017. "Corporate investment and changes in GAAP," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 1-63, March.
    27. Francois Brochet & Lucile Faurel & Sarah Mcvay, 2011. "Manager‐Specific Effects on Earnings Guidance: An Analysis of Top Executive Turnovers," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(5), pages 1123-1162, December.
    28. Nemit Shroff & Amy X. Sun & Hal D. White & Weining Zhang, 2013. "Voluntary Disclosure and Information Asymmetry: Evidence from the 2005 Securities Offering Reform," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(5), pages 1299-1345, December.
    29. Ajinkya, Bb & Gift, Mj, 1984. "Corporate Managers Earnings Forecasts And Symmetrical Adjustments Of Market Expectations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(2), pages 425-444.
    30. Keith Sherin, 2010. "Financial Planning and Investor Communications at GE (With a Look at Why We Ended Earnings Guidance)," Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Morgan Stanley, vol. 22(4), pages 8-17, September.
    31. Tine Buyl & Christophe Boone & Walter Hendriks & Paul Matthyssens, 2011. "Top Management Team Functional Diversity and Firm Performance: The Moderating Role of CEO Characteristics," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 151-177, January.
    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. Griffin, Paul A. & Hong, Hyun A. & Liu, Yun & Ryou, Ji Woo, 2021. "The dark side of CEO social capital: Evidence from real earnings management and future operating performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    2. Ya You & Shuba Srinivasan & Koen Pauwels & Amit Joshi, 2020. "How CEO/CMO characteristics affect innovation and stock returns: findings and future directions," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 1229-1253, November.
    3. Guanming He, 2023. "How do insider trading incentives shape nonfinancial disclosures? Evidence from product and business expansion disclosures," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 147-194, January.
    4. Guanming He & Helen Mengbing Ren, 2024. "Derivative disclosures and managerial opportunism," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(3), pages 384-419, March.
    5. Yinju Nie & Ming Jia, 2021. "The power of crowds: can minority shareholder activism promote management earnings forecast accuracy," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(5), pages 6333-6385, December.
    6. Toufiq Nazrul & Adam Esplin & Kevin E. Dow & David M. Folsom, 2022. "Religiosity at the Top and Annual Report Readability," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-19, October.
    7. Pham, Man Duy (Marty), 2022. "Management friendship and insider opportunism," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    8. Prabashi Dharmasiri, 2023. "Social connections, CEO turnover and corporate policy change," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 48(3), pages 567-595, August.
    9. Guo, Huitao & Ye, Binghui & Chen, Yuxuan & Lin, Weizhen & Guan, Xinle & Mao, Ruoyu, 2024. "Investor attention and corporate leverage manipulation," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    10. Steven Balsam & So Yean Kwack, 2022. "The impact of connections between the CEO and top executives on appointment, turnover and firm value," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(5-6), pages 882-933, May.
    11. Hao, Xiaoli & Wen, Shufang & Li, Ke & Wu, Junwei & Wu, Haitao & Hao, Yu, 2023. "Environmental governance, executive incentive, and enterprise performance: Evidence from Chinese mineral enterprises," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    12. Jing He, 2022. "Executive Network Centrality and Corporate Reporting," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(2), pages 1512-1536, February.
    13. Li, Siyuan & Qu, Tianshu Charlotte & Yu, Yingri Julia, 2022. "Outside director social network centrality and turnover before stock performance crash: A friend in need?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    14. Yankuo Qiao, 2023. "To delegate or not to delegate? On the quality of voluntary corporate financial disclosure," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 17(7), pages 2215-2250, October.

    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. Ruihao Ke & Meng Li & Yuan Zhang, 2020. "Directors' Informational Role in Corporate Voluntary Disclosure: An Analysis of Directors from Related Industries†," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(1), pages 392-418, March.
    2. Bui, Dien Giau & Chen, Yehning & Chen, Yan-Shing & Lin, Chih-Yung, 2023. "Managerial ability and financial statement disaggregation decisions," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Kannan, Yezen & Khallaf, Ashraf & Gleason, Kimberly & Bostan, Ibrahim, 2023. "The relationship between R&D intensity, conservatism, and management earnings forecast issuance," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    4. Jae B. Kim, 2016. "Accounting flexibility and managers’ forecast behavior prior to seasoned equity offerings," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 1361-1400, December.
    5. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    6. Lu Xing & Tinghua Duan & Wenxuan Hou, 2019. "Do Board Secretaries Influence Management Earnings Forecasts?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 154(2), pages 537-574, January.
    7. Sara Bormann & Debbie Claassen & Christian Hofmann & Nina Schwaiger, 2020. "Conservative traits and managerial forecasting style," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 90(3), pages 335-368, April.
    8. Guay, Wayne & Samuels, Delphine & Taylor, Daniel, 2016. "Guiding through the Fog: Financial statement complexity and voluntary disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 234-269.
    9. Ulrike Malmendier, 2018. "Behavioral Corporate Finance," NBER Working Papers 25162, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Inder K. Khurana & Yinghua Li & Wei Wang, 2018. "The Effects of Hedge Fund Interventions on Strategic Firm Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(9), pages 4094-4117, September.
    11. Luong, Thanh Son & Qiu, Buhui & Wu, Yi (Ava), 2021. "Does it pay to be socially connected with wall street brokerages? Evidence from cost of equity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    12. Jing, Wei & Zhang, Xueyong, 2021. "Online social networks and corporate investment similarity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    13. Houston, Joel F. & Lee, Jongsub & Suntheim, Felix, 2018. "Social networks in the global banking sector," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 237-269.
    14. Liu, Xiaofeng & Feng, Hua & Tian, Gaoliang & Zhang, Ting, 2024. "Environmental legal institutions and management earnings forecasts: Evidence from the establishment of environmental courts in China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(PB), pages 545-573.
    15. Heitzman, Shane & Wasley, Charles & Zimmerman, Jerold, 2010. "The joint effects of materiality thresholds and voluntary disclosure incentives on firms' disclosure decisions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(1-2), pages 109-132, February.
    16. Souhei Ishida & Takuma Kochiyama & Akinobu Shuto, 2018. "Are More Able Managers Good Future Tellers? Learning from Japan (Forthcoming in Journal of Accounting and Public Policy)," CARF F-Series CARF-F-435, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo, revised Nov 2020.
    17. Fogel, Kathy & Jandik, Tomas & McCumber, William R., 2018. "CFO social capital and private debt," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 28-52.
    18. Bozanic, Zahn & Roulstone, Darren T. & Van Buskirk, Andrew, 2018. "Management earnings forecasts and other forward-looking statements," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 1-20.
    19. Thomas Bourveau & Yun Lou & Rencheng Wang, 2018. "Shareholder Litigation and Corporate Disclosure: Evidence from Derivative Lawsuits," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 797-842, June.
    20. Kang, Jun-Koo & Liu, Wei-Lin & Low, Angie & Zhang, Le, 2018. "Friendly boards and innovation," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-25.

    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:inm:ormnsc:v:65:y:2019:i:1:p:439-457. 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: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.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.