IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/finrev/v56y2021i3p535-561.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investor awareness or information asymmetry? Wikipedia and IPO underpricing

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Boulton
  • Bill B. Francis
  • Thomas Shohfi
  • Daqi Xin

Abstract

We use the presence of a Wikipedia article for initial public offering (IPO) firms to test theories of information asymmetry and investor awareness. Although we find limited support for the former, our results provide strong support for theories of investor awareness. Specifically, IPO firms with a Wikipedia article exhibit significantly higher underpricing and offer price revisions than do IPO firms without a Wikipedia article. Investor awareness has positive long‐term effects, including greater analyst following and institutional ownership for up to 3 years after the offering. The effect is robust to firm‐specific Google search volume, news coverage, retail trading intensity, social media activity, propensity score matching, and an instrumental variable approach.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Boulton & Bill B. Francis & Thomas Shohfi & Daqi Xin, 2021. "Investor awareness or information asymmetry? Wikipedia and IPO underpricing," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 56(3), pages 535-561, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:finrev:v:56:y:2021:i:3:p:535-561
    DOI: 10.1111/fire.12276
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/fire.12276
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/fire.12276?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. Hervé, Fabrice & Zouaoui, Mohamed & Belvaux, Bertrand, 2019. "Noise traders and smart money: Evidence from online searches," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 141-149.
    2. Harrison Hong & Jeremy C. Stein, 1999. "A Unified Theory of Underreaction, Momentum Trading, and Overreaction in Asset Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2143-2184, December.
    3. Hirshleifer, David & Kewei Hou & Teoh, Siew Hong & Yinglei Zhang, 2004. "Do investors overvalue firms with bloated balance sheets?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 297-331, December.
    4. Hong, Harrison & Torous, Walter & Valkanov, Rossen, 2007. "Do industries lead stock markets?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 367-396, February.
    5. Andrew J. Leone & Steve Rock & Michael Willenborg, 2007. "Disclosure of Intended Use of Proceeds and Underpricing in Initial Public Offerings," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(1), pages 111-153, March.
    6. Gao, Xiaohui & Ritter, Jay R., 2010. "The marketing of seasoned equity offerings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 33-52, July.
    7. Shane Greenstein & Yuan Gu & Feng Zhu, 2016. "Ideological Segregation among Online Collaborators: Evidence from Wikipedians," Harvard Business School Working Papers 17-028, Harvard Business School, revised Mar 2017.
    8. Hanley, Kathleen Weiss, 1993. "The underpricing of initial public offerings and the partial adjustment phenomenon," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 231-250, October.
    9. Ritter, Jay R., 1987. "The costs of going public," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 269-281, December.
    10. Stock, James H & Wright, Jonathan H & Yogo, Motohiro, 2002. "A Survey of Weak Instruments and Weak Identification in Generalized Method of Moments," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(4), pages 518-529, October.
    11. David Hirshleifer, 2020. "Presidential Address: Social Transmission Bias in Economics and Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(4), pages 1779-1831, August.
    12. Daniel J. Bradley & Bradford D. Jordan & Jay R. Ritter, 2003. "The Quiet Period Goes out with a Bang," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(1), pages 1-36, February.
    13. Hirshleifer, David & Teoh, Siew Hong, 2003. "Limited attention, information disclosure, and financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1-3), pages 337-386, December.
    14. Jiao, Peiran & Veiga, André & Walther, Ansgar, 2020. "Social media, news media and the stock market," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 63-90.
    15. Vijay Jog & Bruce J. McConomy, 2003. "Voluntary Disclosure of Management Earnings Forecasts in IPO Prospectuses," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1-2), pages 125-168.
    16. Terrance Odean, 1999. "Do Investors Trade Too Much?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(5), pages 1279-1298, December.
    17. J. Anthony Cookson & Marina Niessner, 2020. "Why Don't We Agree? Evidence from a Social Network of Investors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(1), pages 173-228, February.
    18. Ibbotson, Roger G., 1975. "Price performance of common stock new issues," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 235-272, September.
    19. Verrecchia, Robert E., 1983. "Discretionary disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 179-194, April.
    20. Azi Ben-Rephael & Zhi Da & Ryan D. Israelsen, 2017. "It Depends on Where You Search: Institutional Investor Attention and Underreaction to News," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(9), pages 3009-3047.
    21. Heckman, James J, 1978. "Dummy Endogenous Variables in a Simultaneous Equation System," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(4), pages 931-959, July.
    22. 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.
    23. Baron, David P, 1982. "A Model of the Demand for Investment Banking Advising and Distribution Services for New Issues," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 37(4), pages 955-976, September.
    24. Brad M. Barber & Terrance Odean, 2008. "All That Glitters: The Effect of Attention and News on the Buying Behavior of Individual and Institutional Investors," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(2), pages 785-818, April.
    25. Jim Giles, 2005. "Internet encyclopaedias go head to head," Nature, Nature, vol. 438(7070), pages 900-901, December.
    26. Rock, Kevin, 1986. "Why new issues are underpriced," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1-2), pages 187-212.
    27. Hailiang Chen & Prabuddha De & Yu (Jeffrey) Hu & Byoung-Hyoun Hwang, 2014. "Wisdom of Crowds: The Value of Stock Opinions Transmitted Through Social Media," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 27(5), pages 1367-1403.
    28. Vijay Jog & Bruce J. McConomy, 2003. "Voluntary Disclosure of Management Earnings Forecasts in IPO Prospectuses," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1‐2), pages 125-168, January.
    29. Bajo, Emanuele & Raimondo, Carlo, 2017. "Media sentiment and IPO underpricing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 139-153.
    30. Shane Greenstein & Feng Zhu, 2012. "Collective Intelligence and Neutral Point of View: The Case of Wikipedia," NBER Working Papers 18167, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    31. Kathleen Weiss Hanley, 2010. "The Information Content of IPO Prospectuses," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(7), pages 2821-2864, July.
    32. 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.
    33. Paul C. Tetlock, 2007. "Giving Content to Investor Sentiment: The Role of Media in the Stock Market," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1139-1168, June.
    34. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1997. "Industry costs of equity," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 153-193, February.
    35. Merton, Robert C, 1987. "A Simple Model of Capital Market Equilibrium with Incomplete Information," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 42(3), pages 483-510, July.
    36. Ekkehart Boehmer & Charles M. Jones & Xiaoyan Zhang & Xinran Zhang, 2021. "Tracking Retail Investor Activity," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 76(5), pages 2249-2305, October.
    37. Werner Antweiler & Murray Z. Frank, 2004. "Is All That Talk Just Noise? The Information Content of Internet Stock Message Boards," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(3), pages 1259-1294, June.
    38. Bradley, Daniel J. & Cooney, John W. & Jordan, Bradford D. & Singh, Ajai K., 2004. "Negotiation and the IPO Offer Price: A Comparison of Integer vs. Non-Integer IPOs," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 39(3), pages 517-540, September.
    39. Tim Loughran & Jay Ritter, 2004. "Why Has IPO Underpricing Changed Over Time?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 33(3), Fall.
    40. 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.
    41. Benveniste, Lawrence M. & Spindt, Paul A., 1989. "How investment bankers determine the offer price and allocation of new issues," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 343-361.
    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. Denis Davydov & Jarkko Peltomäki, 2023. "Investor attention and the use of leverage," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 58(2), pages 287-313, May.
    2. Timo Lehmann & Matthias Weber, 2023. "Auctions versus bookbuilding: The effects of IPO regulation in Japan," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 58(1), pages 117-141, February.
    3. Dias, Ishanka K. & Fernando, J.M. Ruwani & Fernando, P. Narada D., 2022. "Does investor sentiment predict bitcoin return and volatility? A quantile regression approach," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    4. Patrick M. Corrigan, 2022. "Does an initial public offering (IPO) issuer's Securities and Exchange Commission registration fee calculation method predict pricing revisions and IPO underpricing?," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(4), pages 1114-1147, December.
    5. Justin Cox & Bonnie Van Ness & Robert Van Ness, 2022. "Stock splits and retail trading," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 57(4), pages 731-750, November.
    6. James C. Brau & James Cicon & Stephen R. Owen, 2022. "A Textual Analysis of Logograms in Chinese IPO Roadshows: How Agreement between Investors and Management Relates to Pricing and Performance," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-24, April.
    7. Justin Cox & Bonnie Van Ness & Robert Van Ness, 2022. "The dark side of IPOs: Examining where and who trades in the IPO secondary market," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 51(4), pages 1091-1126, December.

    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. Chahine, Salim & Mansi, Sattar & Mazboudi, Mohamad, 2015. "Media news and earnings management prior to equity offerings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 177-195.
    2. Jerry W. Chen & Eunice S. Khoo & Zihang Peng, 2023. "Climate change disclosure and the information environment in the initial public offering market," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(S1), pages 907-952, April.
    3. Salim Chahine & Gonul Colak & Iftekhar Hasan & Mohamad Mazboudi, 2020. "Investor relations and IPO performance," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 474-512, June.
    4. Bajo, Emanuele & Raimondo, Carlo, 2017. "Media sentiment and IPO underpricing," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 139-153.
    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. Chen, Xing & Wu, Chongfeng, 2022. "Retail investor attention and information asymmetry: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    7. Junni L. Zhang & Wolfgang K. Härdle & Cathy Y. Chen & Elisabeth Bommes, 2015. "Distillation of News Flow into Analysis of Stock Reactions," SFB 649 Discussion Papers SFB649DP2015-005, Sonderforschungsbereich 649, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
    8. 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.
    9. Ji Sun & Yi Zhou & Jiaguo (George) Wang & Jie (Michael) Guo, 2020. "Influence of media coverage and sentiment on seasoned equity offerings," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(S1), pages 557-585, April.
    10. Buehlmaier, Matthias M. M. & Zechner, Josef, 2016. "Financial media, price discovery, and merger arbitrage," CFS Working Paper Series 551, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    11. Natalia Matanova & Tanja Steigner & Bingsheng Yi & Qiancheng Zheng, 2019. "Going concern opinions and IPO pricing accuracy," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 195-238, July.
    12. Feng, Xunan & Johansson, Anders C. & Wei, Dengxi, 2023. "Judging a book by its cover: Analysts and attention-driven price patterns in China's IPO market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    13. Campbell, Brett & Drake, Michael & Thornock, Jacob & Twedt, Brady, 2023. "Earnings Virality," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(1).
    14. Junni L. Zhang & Wolfgang Karl Hardle & Cathy Y. Chen & Elisabeth Bommes, 2020. "Distillation of News Flow into Analysis of Stock Reactions," Papers 2009.10392, arXiv.org.
    15. André Betzer & Jan Philipp Harries, 2022. "How online discussion board activity affects stock trading: the case of GameStop," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 36(4), pages 443-472, December.
    16. 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.
    17. Oehler, Andreas & Rummer, Marco & Smith, Peter N., 2004. "IPO Pricing and the Relative Importance of Investor Sentiment: Evidence from Germany," Discussion Papers 26, University of Bamberg, Chair of Finance.
    18. Wahyu Widarjo & Rahmawati & Bandi & Ari Kuncara Widagdo, 2020. "Underpricing and Intellectual Capital Disclosure: Evidence from Indonesia," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 21(6), pages 1325-1337, December.
    19. 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.
    20. Ljungqvist, Alexander, 2003. "Conflicts of Interest and Efficient Contracting in IPOs," CEPR Discussion Papers 4163, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    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:finrev:v:56:y:2021:i:3:p:535-561. 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/efaaaea.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.