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Litigation Risk and Corporate Voluntary Disclosure: Evidence from Two Quasi-Natural Experiments

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  • Hui Dong
  • Huai Zhang

Abstract

We examine the effect of litigation risk on corporate voluntary disclosure using two quasi-natural experiments, which have substantial and opposing impacts on the litigation risk of firms headquartered in the Ninth Circuit. We find that firms in the Ninth Circuit decrease (increase) the quantity and quality of their voluntary disclosure, relative to control firms, when their litigation risk is lowered (elevated). The pre-treatment test shows an indistinguishable trend between treatment and control firms. A battery of robustness checks indicates that our results are not driven by alternative explanations. We hypothesize and find that the impact of litigation risk is more pronounced when firms have bad news and that firms are more likely to preempt bad news through voluntary disclosures when litigation risk is elevated. Overall, results from both experiments suggest that litigation risk causally increases corporate voluntary disclosure.

Suggested Citation

  • Hui Dong & Huai Zhang, 2019. "Litigation Risk and Corporate Voluntary Disclosure: Evidence from Two Quasi-Natural Experiments," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(5), pages 873-900, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:euract:v:28:y:2019:i:5:p:873-900
    DOI: 10.1080/09638180.2018.1559071
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    Cited by:

    1. Xiaomeng Chen & Meiting Lu & Yaowen Shan & Yizhou Zhang, 2023. "Securities class actions and conditional conservatism: Evidence from two legal events," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(2), pages 2441-2471, June.
    2. Obaydin, Ivan & Zurbruegg, Ralf & Hossain, Md Noman & Adhikari, Binay Kumar & Elnahas, Ahmed, 2021. "Shareholder litigation rights and stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    3. Huilin Zhang & Xiaoran Ni & Qi Jin, 2023. "Litigating crashes? Insights from security class actions," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(3), pages 2935-2963, September.
    4. Al-Hadi, Ahmed & Habib, Ahsan, 2023. "Consequences of state-level regulations in accounting, finance, and corporate governance: A review," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    5. Khaldoon Albitar & Tony Abdoush & Khaled Hussainey, 2023. "Do corporate governance mechanisms and ESG disclosure drive CSR narrative tones?," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(4), pages 3876-3890, October.
    6. Anutchanat Jaroenjitrkam & Sirimon Treepongkaruna & Pornsit Jiraporn, 2022. "Does shareholder litigation risk promote or hinder corporate social responsibility? A quasi‐natural experiment," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(3), pages 657-674, May.
    7. Junhui Wang & Jerry Sun, 2022. "The role of audit committees in social responsibility and environmental disclosures: evidence from Chinese energy sector," International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(1), pages 113-128, March.
    8. Yiwei Li & Wei Song & Tingyu Sun & Qingjing Zhang, 2023. "The impact of shareholder litigation risk on income smoothing," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 1379-1413, November.
    9. Feng, Weilin & Meng, Yuqun & Tian, Li Grace & Tu, Steve & Wang, Yuran, 2023. "Corporate strategy and litigation risk," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PB).

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