IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jbfnac/v48y2021i9-10p2015-2048.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Distracted institutions, information asymmetry and stock price stability

Author

Listed:
  • Ryan Flugum
  • Svetlana Orlova
  • Andrew Prevost
  • Li Sun

Abstract

We study the interplay between stock price stability and the information environment following periods of institutional distraction. Using a large panel dataset over the years 1982–2016, we find that the level of ownership by distracted institutions significantly explains crash risk independent of additional determinants identified in prior research. Distraction has a pronounced effect on crash risk among firms that are subject to greater information opacity. Furthermore, we identify a causal impact of institutional distraction on the quality of the information environment that persists over the year following the distraction period. This heightened information asymmetry impedes investors’ ability to process information, leading investors to overreact to bad news.

Suggested Citation

  • Ryan Flugum & Svetlana Orlova & Andrew Prevost & Li Sun, 2021. "Distracted institutions, information asymmetry and stock price stability," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(9-10), pages 2015-2048, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:jbfnac:v:48:y:2021:i:9-10:p:2015-2048
    DOI: 10.1111/jbfa.12555
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/jbfa.12555
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/jbfa.12555?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. Kandel, Eugene & Pearson, Neil D, 1995. "Differential Interpretation of Public Signals and Trade in Speculative Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 103(4), pages 831-872, August.
    2. Jin, Li & Myers, Stewart C., 2006. "R2 around the world: New theory and new tests," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 257-292, February.
    3. Ahsan Habib & Mostafa Monzur Hasan & Haiyan Jiang, 2018. "Stock price crash risk: review of the empirical literature," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 58(S1), pages 211-251, November.
    4. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    5. Brian J. Bushee, 2001. "Do Institutional Investors Prefer Near†Term Earnings over Long†Run Value?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(2), pages 207-246, June.
    6. Panayiotis C. Andreou & Christodoulos Louca & Andreas P. Petrou, 2017. "CEO Age and Stock Price Crash Risk," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(3), pages 1287-1325.
    7. White, Halbert, 1980. "A Heteroskedasticity-Consistent Covariance Matrix Estimator and a Direct Test for Heteroskedasticity," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 48(4), pages 817-838, May.
    8. 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.
    9. Andrew Ang & Robert J. Hodrick & Yuhang Xing & Xiaoyan Zhang, 2006. "The Cross‐Section of Volatility and Expected Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 259-299, February.
    10. S. P. Kothari & Susan Shu & Peter D. Wysocki, 2009. "Do Managers Withhold Bad News?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1), pages 241-276, March.
    11. Chang, Xin & Chen, Yangyang & Zolotoy, Leon, 2017. "Stock Liquidity and Stock Price Crash Risk," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(4), pages 1605-1637, August.
    12. Jeffrey L Coles & Zhichuan (Frank) Li & Albert Y Wang, 2018. "Industry Tournament Incentives," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(4), pages 1418-1459.
    13. X. Frank Zhang, 2006. "Information Uncertainty and Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(1), pages 105-137, February.
    14. Andreou, Christoforos K. & Andreou, Panayiotis C. & Lambertides, Neophytos, 2021. "Financial distress risk and stock price crashes," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    15. Elisabeth Kempf & Alberto Manconi & Oliver Spalt, 2017. "Distracted Shareholders and Corporate Actions," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(5), pages 1660-1695.
    16. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Li, Yinghua & Zhang, Liandong, 2011. "CFOs versus CEOs: Equity incentives and crashes," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 713-730, September.
    17. Bebchuk, Lucian A. & Cremers, K.J. Martijn & Peyer, Urs C., 2011. "The CEO pay slice," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(1), pages 199-221, October.
    18. Borochin, Paul & Yang, Jie, 2017. "The effects of institutional investor objectives on firm valuation and governance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(1), pages 171-199.
    19. Boone, Audra L. & White, Joshua T., 2015. "The effect of institutional ownership on firm transparency and information production," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(3), pages 508-533.
    20. Shane A. Corwin & Paul Schultz, 2012. "A Simple Way to Estimate Bid‐Ask Spreads from Daily High and Low Prices," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 67(2), pages 719-760, April.
    21. 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.
    22. Appel, Ian R. & Gormley, Todd A. & Keim, Donald B., 2016. "Passive investors, not passive owners," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 111-141.
    23. Karpoff, Jonathan M, 1986. "A Theory of Trading Volume," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 41(5), pages 1069-1087, December.
    24. Callen, Jeffrey L. & Fang, Xiaohua, 2013. "Institutional investor stability and crash risk: Monitoring versus short-termism?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 3047-3063.
    25. Jeong†Bon Kim & Zheng Wang & Liandong Zhang, 2016. "CEO Overconfidence and Stock Price Crash Risk," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(4), pages 1720-1749, December.
    26. Chen, Joseph & Hong, Harrison & Stein, Jeremy C., 2001. "Forecasting crashes: trading volume, past returns, and conditional skewness in stock prices," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(3), pages 345-381, September.
    27. Jeong†Bon Kim & Liandong Zhang, 2016. "Accounting Conservatism and Stock Price Crash Risk: Firm†level Evidence," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 33(1), pages 412-441, March.
    28. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Li, Yinghua & Zhang, Liandong, 2011. "Corporate tax avoidance and stock price crash risk: Firm-level analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 639-662, June.
    29. Ni, Xiaoran & Peng, Qiyuan & Yin, Sirui & Zhang, Ting, 2020. "Attention! Distracted institutional investors and stock price crash," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    30. Hutton, Amy P. & Marcus, Alan J. & Tehranian, Hassan, 2009. "Opaque financial reports, R2, and crash risk," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(1), pages 67-86, October.
    31. Artyom Durnev & Randall Morck & Bernard Yeung & Paul Zarowin, 2003. "Does Greater Firm‐Specific Return Variation Mean More or Less Informed Stock Pricing?," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(5), pages 797-836, December.
    32. Schmidt, Daniel, 2019. "Distracted Institutional Investors," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 54(6), pages 2453-2491, December.
    33. Xiang, Cheng & Chen, Fengwen & Wang, Qian, 2020. "Institutional investor inattention and stock price crash risk," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 33(C).
    34. Devos, Erik & Hao, Wei & Prevost, Andrew K. & Wongchoti, Udomsak, 2015. "Stock return synchronicity and the market response to analyst recommendation revisions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 376-389.
    35. Chowdhury, Hasibul & Hodgson, Allan & Pathan, Shams, 2020. "Do external labour market incentives constrain bad news hoarding? The CEO's industry tournament and crash risk reduction," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    36. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1986. "Large Shareholders and Corporate Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 461-488, June.
    37. Guillermo Llorente & Roni Michaely & Gideon Saar & Jiang Wang, 2002. "Dynamic Volume-Return Relation of Individual Stocks," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(4), pages 1005-1047.
    38. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    39. Lee, Dong Wook & Liu, Mark H., 2011. "Does more information in stock price lead to greater or smaller idiosyncratic return volatility?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1563-1580, June.
    40. Harford, Jarrad & Kecskés, Ambrus & Mansi, Sattar, 2018. "Do long-term investors improve corporate decision making?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 424-452.
    41. Ward, Charles & Yin, Chao & Zeng, Yeqin, 2018. "Institutional investor monitoring motivation and the marginal value of cash," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 49-75.
    42. Chen, Xia & Harford, Jarrad & Li, Kai, 2007. "Monitoring: Which institutions matter?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 279-305, November.
    43. Al Mamun, Md & Balachandran, Balasingham & Duong, Huu Nhan, 2020. "Powerful CEOs and stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    44. An, Heng & Zhang, Ting, 2013. "Stock price synchronicity, crash risk, and institutional investors," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 1-15.
    45. Feng Cao & Jian Sun & Rongli Yuan, 2019. "Board directors with foreign experience and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(9-10), pages 1144-1170, October.
    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. Cong, Yunyu & Sun, Fangfang & Wang, Fusheng & Ye, Qiang, 2022. "Information assimilation and stock return synchronicity: Evidence from an investor relations management platform," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    2. 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).

    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. Ni, Xiaoran & Peng, Qiyuan & Yin, Sirui & Zhang, Ting, 2020. "Attention! Distracted institutional investors and stock price crash," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    2. Chen, Yangyang & Fan, Qingliang & Yang, Xin & Zolotoy, Leon, 2021. "CEO early-life disaster experience and stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    3. Khalil Jebran & Shihua Chen & Ruibin Zhang, 2022. "Board social capital and stock price crash risk," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(2), pages 499-540, February.
    4. Hossain, Ashrafee T. & Masum, Abdullah-Al & Xu, Jian, 2023. "COVID-19, a blessing in disguise for the Tech sector: Evidence from stock price crash risk," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    5. Tung Lam Dang & Robert Faff & Hoang Luong & Lily Nguyen, 2019. "Individualistic cultures and crash risk," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 25(3), pages 622-654, June.
    6. Zaman, Rashid & Atawnah, Nader & Haseeb, Muhammad & Nadeem, Muhammad & Irfan, Saadia, 2021. "Does corporate eco-innovation affect stock price crash risk?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(5).
    7. Al Mamun, Md & Balachandran, Balasingham & Duong, Huu Nhan, 2020. "Powerful CEOs and stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    8. Krishnamurti, Chandrasekhar & Chowdhury, Hasibul & Han, Hien Duc, 2021. "CEO centrality and stock price crash risk," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C).
    9. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Liao, Shushu & Liu, Yangke, 2021. "Married CEOs and Stock Price Crash Risk," QBS Working Paper Series 2021/09, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Business School.
    10. Andreou, Christoforos K. & Andreou, Panayiotis C. & Lambertides, Neophytos, 2021. "Financial distress risk and stock price crashes," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    11. Balachandran, Balasingham & Duong, Huu Nhan & Luong, Hoang & Nguyen, Lily, 2020. "Does takeover activity affect stock price crash risk? Evidence from international M&A laws," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    12. Choi, Young Mok & Park, Kunsu, 2022. "Zero-leverage policy and stock price crash risk: Evidence from Korea," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    13. Meng, Yongqiang & Shen, Dehua & Xiong, Xiong, 2023. "When stock price crash risk meets fundamentals," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    14. Liao, Lin & Sharma, Divesh & Yang, Yitang (Jenny) & Zhao, Rui, 2023. "Adoption and content of key audit matters and stock price crash risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    15. Ni, Xiaoran & Wang, Ye & Yin, David, 2021. "Does Modern Information Technology Attenuate Managerial Information Hoarding? Evidence from the EDGAR Implementation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    16. Richardson, Grant & Obaydin, Ivan & Liu, Chelsea, 2022. "The effect of accounting fraud on future stock price crash risk," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    17. Dan Hu & Eunju Lee & Bingxin Li, 2023. "Trade secrets protection and stock price crash risk," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 58(2), pages 395-421, May.
    18. Xu, Lin & Rao, Yulei & Cheng, Yingmei & Wang, Jianxin, 2020. "Internal coalition and stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    19. Lai, Karen M.Y. & Khedmati, Mehdi & Gul, Ferdinand A. & Mount, Matthew P., 2023. "Making honest men of them: Institutional investors, financial reporting, and the appointment of female directors to all-male boards," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    20. Li, Yiwei & Zeng, Yeqin, 2019. "The impact of top executive gender on asset prices: Evidence from stock price crash risk," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 528-550.

    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:jbfnac:v:48:y:2021:i:9-10:p:2015-2048. 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: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0306-686X .

    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.