Disclosure of information under competition: An experimental study

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Sheth, Jesal D.
• 署名单位: University of Nottingham
• 刊物名称: GAMES AND ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0899-8256
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2021.05.009
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 158-180
• 关键词: competition; experiment; disclosure; verifiable information; Conflict of interest

摘要

The theory of voluntary disclosure of information posits that market forces lead firms (senders) to disclose information through a process of unravelling. This prediction requires that consumers (receivers) hold correct beliefs and, in equilibrium, make adverse inferences about non-disclosed information. Previous research finds that receivers are naive and do not sufficiently infer non-disclosure as bad news, leading to the failure of complete unravelling. This paper experimentally examines whether competition between senders increases unravelling and decreases receivers' naivety about non-disclosed information. We find that while complete unravelling fails to occur, competition between senders significantly increases unravelling and receivers' overall welfare. Receivers' welfare increases despite no significant difference in their guesses or beliefs about non-disclosed information relative to the treatment without competition, and this is driven by higher rates of disclosure by senders. We conclude that competition between senders positively affects disclosure of information and receivers' welfare. (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.