IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v69y2023i6p3263-3284.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Panda Games: Corporate Disclosure in the Eclipse of Search

Author

Listed:
  • Kemin Wang

    (School of Management, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China)

  • Xiaoyun Yu

    (Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030, China; European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI);)

  • Bohui Zhang

    (School of Management and Economics, Shenzhen Finance Institute; Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen 518172, China)

Abstract

We show that firms strategically alter their disclosures when investors’ access to information via search engines is interrupted. We conduct a textual analysis and exploit an exogenous event—Google’s 2010 surprising withdrawal from mainland China, which significantly hampered domestic investors’ ability to search for foreign information but did not affect their cost to access domestic information. Following Google’s exit, Chinese firms’ announcements on foreign transactions become more bullish relative to domestic transactions. Optimism in disclosure is especially rosy if the press releases are conveying negative news or are issued by poorly governed firms. This effect is mitigated in the presence of foreign investors or analysts affiliated with foreign brokers who are not subject to foreign information censorship by the government. The increase in search cost also appears to leave domestic news media and financial analysts more vulnerable to the influence of corporate disclosure. These optimistic announcements allow insiders to harvest higher returns from selling their shares and are associated with a higher likelihood of corporate misconduct.

Suggested Citation

  • Kemin Wang & Xiaoyun Yu & Bohui Zhang, 2023. "Panda Games: Corporate Disclosure in the Eclipse of Search," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(6), pages 3263-3284, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:69:y:2023:i:6:p:3263-3284
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2022.4521
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4521
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4521?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. Alexander Dyck & Natalya Volchkova & Luigi Zingales, 2008. "The Corporate Governance Role of the Media: Evidence from Russia," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(3), pages 1093-1135, June.
    2. Harrison Hong & Terence Lim & Jeremy C. Stein, 2000. "Bad News Travels Slowly: Size, Analyst Coverage, and the Profitability of Momentum Strategies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 265-295, February.
    3. Joel Peress, 2014. "The Media and the Diffusion of Information in Financial Markets: Evidence from Newspaper Strikes," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(5), pages 2007-2043, October.
    4. Gao, Zhenyu & Ren, Haohan & Zhang, Bohui, 2020. "Googling Investor Sentiment around the World," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 55(2), pages 549-580, March.
    5. Womack, Kent L, 1996. "Do Brokerage Analysts' Recommendations Have Investment Value?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 137-167, March.
    6. Harrison Hong & Marcin Kacperczyk, 2010. "Competition and Bias," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(4), pages 1683-1725.
    7. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2014. "Measuring Readability in Financial Disclosures," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 69(4), pages 1643-1671, August.
    8. Enrichetta Ravina & Paola Sapienza, 2010. "What Do Independent Directors Know? Evidence from Their Trading," NBER Chapters, in: Corporate Governance, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Chen, Tao & Harford, Jarrad & Lin, Chen, 2015. "Do analysts matter for governance? Evidence from natural experiments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 383-410.
    10. Irvine, Paul J., 2003. "The incremental impact of analyst initiation of coverage," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 431-451, September.
    11. Loughran, Tim & McDonald, Bill, 2013. "IPO first-day returns, offer price revisions, volatility, and form S-1 language," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 307-326.
    12. Zhi Da & Joseph Engelberg & Pengjie Gao, 2015. "Editor's Choice The Sum of All FEARS Investor Sentiment and Asset Prices," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 28(1), pages 1-32.
    13. Yermack, David, 2014. "Tailspotting: Identifying and profiting from CEO vacation trips," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(2), pages 252-269.
    14. Li, Nian & Xu, Nianhang & Dong, Rui & Chan, Kam C. & Lin, Xiaowei, 2021. "Does an anti-corruption campaign increase analyst earnings forecast optimism?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    15. Baloria, Vishal P. & Heese, Jonas, 2018. "The effects of media slant on firm behavior," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(1), pages 184-202.
    16. Zhi Da & Joseph Engelberg & Pengjie Gao, 2011. "In Search of Attention," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1461-1499, October.
    17. Jiaxing You & Bohui Zhang & Le Zhang, 2018. "Who Captures the Power of the Pen?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(1), pages 43-96.
    18. Alexander Dyck & Adair Morse & Luigi Zingales, 2010. "Who Blows the Whistle on Corporate Fraud?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(6), pages 2213-2253, December.
    19. Peter Koudijs, 2016. "The Boats That Did Not Sail: Asset Price Volatility in a Natural Experiment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(3), pages 1185-1226, June.
    20. Brennan, Michael J. & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar, 1995. "Investment analysis and price formation in securities markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 361-381, July.
    21. Peter Koudijs, 2015. "Those Who Know Most: Insider Trading in Eighteenth-Century Amsterdam," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 123(6), pages 1356-1409.
    22. Patricia M. Dechow & Richard G. Sloan & Amy P. Sweeney, 1996. "Causes and Consequences of Earnings Manipulation: An Analysis of Firms Subject to Enforcement Actions by the SEC," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(1), pages 1-36, March.
    23. Bradley, Daniel & Gokkaya, Sinan & Liu, Xi & Xie, Fei, 2017. "Are all analysts created equal? Industry expertise and monitoring effectiveness of financial analysts," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 179-206.
    24. Casey Dougal & Joseph Engelberg & Diego García & Christopher A. Parsons, 2012. "Journalists and the Stock Market," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(3), pages 639-679.
    25. Brian J. Bushee & John E. Core & Wayne Guay & Sophia J.W. Hamm, 2010. "The Role of the Business Press as an Information Intermediary," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(1), pages 1-19, March.
    26. Tim Loughran & Bill Mcdonald, 2011. "When Is a Liability Not a Liability? Textual Analysis, Dictionaries, and 10‐Ks," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(1), pages 35-65, February.
    27. 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.
    28. 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.
    29. Amy P. Hutton & Lian Fen Lee & Susan Z. Shu, 2012. "Do Managers Always Know Better? The Relative Accuracy of Management and Analyst Forecasts," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(5), pages 1217-1244, December.
    30. Yu, Fang (Frank), 2008. "Analyst coverage and earnings management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(2), pages 245-271, May.
    31. Joseph E. Engelberg & Christopher A. Parsons, 2011. "The Causal Impact of Media in Financial Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(1), pages 67-97, February.
    32. 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.
    33. Lauren Cohen & Christopher Malloy & Lukasz Pomorski, 2012. "Decoding Inside Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(3), pages 1009-1043, June.
    34. Bhattacharya, Utpal & Galpin, Neal & Ray, Rina & Yu, Xiaoyun, 2009. "The Role of the Media in the Internet IPO Bubble," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(3), pages 657-682, June.
    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. Ma, Rui & Guo, Fei & Li, Dongdong, 2024. "Can public data availability affect stock price crash risk? Evidence from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 94(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. Buehlmaier, Matthias M. M. & Zechner, Josef, 2016. "Financial media, price discovery, and merger arbitrage," CFS Working Paper Series 551, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    2. Jacobs, Heiko, 2020. "Hype or help? Journalists’ perceptions of mispriced stocks," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 550-565.
    3. Bajo, Emanuele & Raimondo, Carlo, 2017. "Media sentiment and IPO underpricing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 139-153.
    4. Hillert, Alexander & Jacobs, Heiko & Müller, Sebastian, 2018. "Journalist disagreement," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 57-76.
    5. Blankespoor, Elizabeth & deHaan, Ed & Marinovic, Iván, 2020. "Disclosure processing costs, investors’ information choice, and equity market outcomes: A review," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2).
    6. Di Giuli, Alberta & Laux, Paul A., 2022. "The effect of media-linked directors on financing and external governance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 103-131.
    7. Li, Yuanpeng & Shi, Haina & Zhou, Yi, 2021. "The influence of the media on government decisions: Evidence from IPOs in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    8. Laura Xiaolei Liu & Ann E. Sherman & Yong Zhang, 2014. "The Long-Run Role of the Media: Evidence from Initial Public Offerings," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(8), pages 1945-1964, August.
    9. Xu, Yongxin & Xuan, Yuhao & Zheng, Gaoping, 2021. "Internet searching and stock price crash risk: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(1), pages 255-275.
    10. Bibo Liu & Xuan Tian, 2022. "Do Venture Capital Investors Learn from Public Markets?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(10), pages 7274-7297, October.
    11. Liu, Laura Xiaolei & Lu, Ruichang & Sherman, Ann E. & Zhang, Yong, 2023. "IPO underpricing and limited attention: Theory and evidence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    12. Liu, Sha & Han, Jingguang, 2020. "Media tone and expected stock returns," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    13. Bhardwaj, Arti & Imam, Shahed, 2019. "The tone and readability of the media during the financial crisis: Evidence from pre-IPO media coverage," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 40-48.
    14. Umar, Tarik, 2022. "Complexity aversion when SeekingAlpha," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2).
    15. Goldman, Eitan & Martel, Jordan & Schneemeier, Jan, 2022. "A theory of financial media," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(1), pages 239-258.
    16. Zheng, Jiayi & Chowdhury, Hasibul & Hossain, Md Safayat & Gupta, Kartick, 2023. "Tournament-based incentives and media sentiment," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2).
    17. Ahmad, Khurshid & Han, JingGuang & Hutson, Elaine & Kearney, Colm & Liu, Sha, 2016. "Media-expressed negative tone and firm-level stock returns," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 152-172.
    18. An, Zhe & Chen, Chen & Naiker, Vic & Wang, Jun, 2020. "Does media coverage deter firms from withholding bad news? Evidence from stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    19. Yang, Shuai & Wu, Chao, 2021. "Do Chinese managers listen to the media?: Evidence from mergers and acquisitions," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    20. Baloria, Vishal P. & Heese, Jonas, 2018. "The effects of media slant on firm behavior," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(1), pages 184-202.

    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:69:y:2023:i:6:p:3263-3284. 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.