IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/acctfi/v65y2025i1p647-665.html

Does digital transformation drive more comment letters?

Author

Listed:
  • Hongquan Li
  • Yang Yang

Abstract

Corporate digital transformation has a systematic impact on companies, thereby becoming a significant focus for both investors and regulatory authorities. This study focuses on Chinese A‐share listed companies and demonstrates that corporate digital transformation can lead to an increase in comment letters. The research also proves that investor attention toward digital transformation and opportunistic insider sales both play a mediating role in this relationship. Additionally, the study reveals that this impact is weaker in companies with higher levels of internal control and corporate social responsibility. The findings have significant implications for corporate governance and regulatory oversight.

Suggested Citation

  • Hongquan Li & Yang Yang, 2025. "Does digital transformation drive more comment letters?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 65(1), pages 647-665, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:acctfi:v:65:y:2025:i:1:p:647-665
    DOI: 10.1111/acfi.13342
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.13342
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/acfi.13342?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. Chen, Yufeng & Xu, Jing, 2023. "Digital transformation and firm cost stickiness: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    2. Peng, Lin & Xiong, Wei, 2006. "Investor attention, overconfidence and category learning," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 563-602, June.
    3. Liu, Xiaojun & Wang, Li & Dai, Yunhao, 2023. "Capital market liberalization and opportunistic insider sales: Evidence from China," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    4. Kamalesh Kumar & Giacomo Boesso & Rishtee Batra & Jun Yao, 2019. "Explicit and implicit corporate social responsibility: Differences in the approach to stakeholder engagement activities of U.S. and Japanese companies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 1121-1130, September.
    5. Kraus, Sascha & Schiavone, Francesco & Pluzhnikova, Anna & Invernizzi, Anna Chiara, 2021. "Digital transformation in healthcare: Analyzing the current state-of-research," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 557-567.
    6. Hutton, Amy & Shu, Susan & Zheng, Xin, 2022. "Regulatory transparency and the alignment of private and public enforcement: Evidence from the public disclosure of SEC comment letters," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(1), pages 297-321.
    7. Wu, Keping & Fu, Yumei & Kong, Dongmin, 2022. "Does the digital transformation of enterprises affect stock price crash risk?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    8. Chen, Xing & Wu, Chongfeng, 2022. "Retail investor attention and information asymmetry: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    9. Ricardo Francisco Reier Forradellas & Luis Miguel Garay Gallastegui, 2021. "Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence Applied to Business: Legal Regulations, Economic Impact and Perspective," Laws, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-22, August.
    10. Eleswarapu, Venkat R. & Thompson, Rex & Venkataraman, Kumar, 2004. "The Impact of Regulation Fair Disclosure: Trading Costs and Information Asymmetry," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(2), pages 209-225, June.
    11. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 2008. "Theory of the firm: managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," RAE - Revista de Administração de Empresas, FGV-EAESP Escola de Administração de Empresas de São Paulo (Brazil), vol. 48(2), April.
    12. Xuejun Jin & Xiao Pan, 2023. "Government Attention, Market Competition and Firm Digital Transformation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-27, June.
    13. Fiona Sussan & Zoltan J. Acs, 2017. "The digital entrepreneurial ecosystem," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 55-73, June.
    14. Agrawal, Anup & Nasser, Tareque, 2012. "Insider trading in takeover targets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 598-625.
    15. Huang, Heshu & Wang, Caiting & Wang, Liukai & Yarovaya, Larisa, 2023. "Corporate digital transformation and idiosyncratic risk: Based on corporate governance perspective," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    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. Core, John E., 2001. "A review of the empirical disclosure literature: discussion," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 441-456, September.
    18. Katherine A. Gunny & Judith M. Hermis, 2020. "How Busyness Influences SEC Compliance Activities: Evidence from the Filing Review Process and Comment Letters," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(1), pages 7-32, March.
    19. Ferreira, João J.M. & Fernandes, Cristina I. & Ferreira, Fernando A.F., 2019. "To be or not to be digital, that is the question: Firm innovation and performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 583-590.
    20. Chen, Lin & Wen, Fenghua & Zhang, Yun & Miao, Xiao, 2023. "Oil supply expectations and corporate social responsibility," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    21. Qiang Cheng & Kin Lo, 2006. "Insider Trading and Voluntary Disclosures," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(5), pages 815-848, December.
    22. Ali, Usman & Hirshleifer, David, 2017. "Opportunism as a firm and managerial trait: Predicting insider trading profits and misconduct," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(3), pages 490-515.
    23. Loertscher, Simon & Marx, Leslie M., 2020. "Digital monopolies: Privacy protection or price regulation?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    24. Sung Gon Chung & Beng Wee Goh & Jimmy Lee & Terry Shevlin, 2019. "Corporate Tax Aggressiveness and Insider Trading," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(1), pages 230-258, March.
    25. Bing Li & Zhenbin Liu, 2017. "The oversight role of regulators: evidence from SEC comment letters in the IPO process," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1229-1260, September.
    26. 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.
    27. Fang, Mingyue & Nie, Huihua & Shen, Xinyi, 2023. "Can enterprise digitization improve ESG performance?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    28. Niklas Karlsson & George Loewenstein & Duane Seppi, 2009. "The ostrich effect: Selective attention to information," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 38(2), pages 95-115, April.
    29. McNichols, Maureen & Trueman, Brett, 1994. "Public disclosure, private information collection, and short-term trading," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1-2), pages 69-94, January.
    30. Lauren Cohen & Christopher Malloy & Lukasz Pomorski, 2012. "Decoding Inside Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(3), pages 1009-1043, June.
    31. Guo, Chenhao & Ke, Yun & Zhang, Jinkang, 2023. "Digital transformation along the supply chain," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    32. Paul Hribar & Todd Kravet & Ryan Wilson, 2014. "A new measure of accounting quality," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 506-538, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Wen, Danyan & Zhang, Zihao & Nie, Jing & Cao, Yang, 2024. "Investor attention and anomalies: Evidence from the Chinese stock market," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    2. Ting Qian & Caoyuan Yang, 2023. "State-Owned Equity Participation and Corporations’ ESG Performance in China: The Mediating Role of Top Management Incentives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-21, July.
    3. Chen, Shenglan & Ma, Hui & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao, 2023. "Does common ownership constrain managerial rent extraction? Evidence from insider trading profitability," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    4. Cai, Wenwu & Lu, Jing, 2019. "Investors’ financial attention frequency and trading activity," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    5. Ma, Rui & Marshall, Ben R. & Nguyen, Hung T. & Nguyen, Nhut H. & Visaltanachoti, Nuttawat, 2024. "Insider trading and climate disasters," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    6. Kyriacou, Kyriacos & Liu, Siming & Mase, Bryan, 2024. "Corruption and insider trading," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    7. Ju, Chunhua & Fang, Xusheng & Shen, Zhonghua, 2024. "Investor attention and corporate financialization: Evidence from internet search volume," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    8. Fich, Eliezer M. & Parrino, Robert & Tran, Anh L., 2023. "When and how are rule 10b5-1 plans used for insider stock sales?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 149(1), pages 1-26.
    9. Lin, Le & Li, Nongwen, 2026. "Investor risk concern and opportunistic insider sales," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    10. Arnold, Marc & Pelster, Matthias & Subrahmanyam, Marti G., 2022. "Attention triggers and investors’ risk-taking," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(2), pages 846-875.
    11. Gang Chu & John W. Goodell & Dehua Shen & Yongjie Zhang, 2022. "Machine learning to establish proxies for investor attention: evidence of improved stock-return prediction," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 318(1), pages 103-128, November.
    12. Li, Tao & Ji, Yu, 2021. "Institutional ownership and insider trading profitability: Evidence from an emerging market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    13. Liu, Shasha & Zhao, Huixian & Kong, Gaowen, 2023. "Enterprise digital transformation, breadth of ownership and stock price volatility," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    14. Li, Zhibing & Liu, Jia & Liu, Jie & Liu, Xiaoyu & Wu, Chonglin, 2025. "Investor attention and stock price manipulation: Evidence from daily quasi-natural experiments," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    15. Huang, Shiyang & Huang, Yulin & Lin, Tse-Chun, 2019. "Attention allocation and return co-movement: Evidence from repeated natural experiments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(2), pages 369-383.
    16. Dierick, Nicolas & Heyman, Dries & Inghelbrecht, Koen & Stieperaere, Hannes, 2019. "Financial attention and the disposition effect," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 190-217.
    17. Qian Chen & Xiang Gao & Gangchen Liu, 2021. "Limited Attention and Post-Earnings Announcement Drift: Evidence from China s Stock Market," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 11(1), pages 1-17.
    18. Dai, Jingwen & Xu, Rong & Zhu, Tianqi & Lu, Chao, 2024. "Common institutional ownership and opportunistic insider selling: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    19. Daniel Andrei & Michael Hasler, 2020. "Dynamic Attention Behavior Under Return Predictability," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(7), pages 2906-2928, July.
    20. Gao, Xin & Xu, Weidong & Li, Donghui, 2025. "Media coverage and managerial investment learning from stock markets: International evidence," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:bla:acctfi:v:65:y:2025:i:1:p:647-665. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aaanzea.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.