Information overload and disclosure smoothing

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chapman, Kimball L.; Reiter, Nayana; White, Hal D.; Williams, Christopher D.
• 署名单位: Washington University (WUSTL); University of Toronto; Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); Pennsylvania State University; Pennsylvania State University - University Park; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ACCOUNTING STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1380-6653
• DOI: 10.1007/s11142-019-09500-4
• 发表日期: 2019
• 页码: 1486-1522
• 关键词: decision quality; load; complexity; READABILITY; management; liquidity; guidance; BEHAVIOR; returns; MODEL

摘要

This paper examines whether managers can reduce the detrimental effects of information overload by spreading out, or temporally smoothing, disclosures. We begin by attempting to identify managerial smoothing. We find that when there are multiple disclosures for the same event date, managers spread the disclosures out over several days. Managers are also more likely to delay a disclosure when there has been a disclosure made within the three days before the event date. Finally, managers are more likely to engage in disclosure smoothing when disclosures are longer, the information environment is more robust, firm information is complex, uncertainty is high, and disclosure news is more positive. Our second set of analyses examines whether there are market benefits to disclosure smoothing. Using two different measures of disclosure smoothing, we find that smoothing is associated with increased liquidity, reduced stock price volatility and increased analyst forecast accuracy.