IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaecon/v65y2018i2p331-357.html

Unionization, product market competition, and strategic disclosure

Author

Listed:
  • Aobdia, Daniel
  • Cheng, Lin

Abstract

We examine the disclosure policies of non-unionized firms operating in unionized industries. We test the hypothesis that non-unionized firms have an incentive to disclose more information when their unionized rivals are engaged in labor renegotiations; that is, to weaken them. We find that non-unionized firms disclose more information and more good news when renegotiations are ongoing. This behavior is stronger for larger firms, firms with fewer peers in the industry, and firms more similar to their renegotiating rivals. We also find some evidence that unionized firms are harmed by this behavior and that non-unionized firms benefit from their increased disclosures.

Suggested Citation

  • Aobdia, Daniel & Cheng, Lin, 2018. "Unionization, product market competition, and strategic disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(2), pages 331-357.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:65:y:2018:i:2:p:331-357
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2018.01.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165410118300028
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jacceco.2018.01.002?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bernard, Darren, 2016. "Is the risk of product market predation a cost of disclosure?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 305-325.
    2. Art Durnev & Claudine Mangen, 2009. "Corporate Investments: Learning from Restatements," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 47(3), pages 679-720, June.
    3. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda, 1991. "Union negotiations and corporate policy *1: A study of labor concessions in the domestic steel industry during the 1980s," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 3-43, November.
    4. Dye, Ra, 1985. "Disclosure Of Nonproprietary Information," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(1), pages 123-145.
    5. David S. Lee & Alexandre Mas, 2012. "Long-Run Impacts of Unions on Firms: New Evidence from Financial Markets, 1961--1999," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(1), pages 333-378.
    6. Mark H. Lang & Russell J. Lundholm, 2000. "Voluntary Disclosure and Equity Offerings: Reducing Information Asymmetry or Hyping the Stock?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(4), pages 623-662, December.
    7. Morris M. Kleiner & Marvin L. Bouillon, 1988. "Providing Business Information to Production Workers: Correlates of Compensation and Profitability," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 41(4), pages 605-617, July.
    8. Lee, Charles M.C. & Ma, Paul & Wang, Charles C.Y., 2015. "Search-based peer firms: Aggregating investor perceptions through internet co-searches," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(2), pages 410-431.
    9. Robert Rich & Joseph Tracy, 2004. "Uncertainty and Labor Contract Durations," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 270-287, February.
    10. Thompson, Samuel B., 2011. "Simple formulas for standard errors that cluster by both firm and time," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 1-10, January.
    11. Voos, Paula B & Mishel, Lawrence R, 1986. "The Union Impact on Profits: Evidence from Industry Price-Cost Margin Data," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(1), pages 105-133, January.
    12. Cramton, Peter C & Tracy, Joseph S, 1992. "Strikes and Holdouts in Wage Bargaining: Theory and Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 82(1), pages 100-121, March.
    13. Richard B. Freeman & Morris M. Kleiner, 1999. "Do Unions Make Enterprises Insolvent?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 52(4), pages 510-527, July.
    14. Karuna, Christo, 2007. "Industry product market competition and managerial incentives," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2-3), pages 275-297, July.
    15. Graham, John R. & Harvey, Campbell R. & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2005. "The economic implications of corporate financial reporting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1-3), pages 3-73, December.
    16. Nemit Shroff & Amy X. Sun & Hal D. White & Weining Zhang, 2013. "Voluntary Disclosure and Information Asymmetry: Evidence from the 2005 Securities Offering Reform," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 51(5), pages 1299-1345, December.
    17. Lauren Cohen & Andrea Frazzini, 2008. "Economic Links and Predictable Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(4), pages 1977-2011, August.
    18. Dedman, Elisabeth & Lennox, Clive, 2009. "Perceived competition, profitability and the withholding of information about sales and the cost of sales," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(2-3), pages 210-230, December.
    19. Irene Karamanou & Nikos Vafeas, 2005. "The Association between Corporate Boards, Audit Committees, and Management Earnings Forecasts: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(3), pages 453-486, June.
    20. Chevalier, Judith A, 1995. "Capital Structure and Product-Market Competition: Empirical Evidence from the Supermarket Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 415-435, June.
    21. Fallick, Bruce C & Hassett, Kevin A, 1999. "Investment and Union Certification," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(3), pages 570-582, July.
    22. Darrough, Masako N. & Stoughton, Neal M., 1990. "Financial disclosure policy in an entry game," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(1-3), pages 219-243, January.
    23. Robert Rich & Joseph Tracy, 2013. "Early Contract Renegotiation: An Analysis of US Labor Contracts, 1970-1995," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(4), pages 825-842.
    24. Richard B. Freeman & Morris M. Kleiner, 1990. "Employer Behavior in the Face of Union Organizing Drives," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 43(4), pages 351-365, July.
    25. Francesco Bova & Yiwei Dou & Ole†Kristian Hope, 2015. "Employee Ownership and Firm Disclosure," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(2), pages 639-673, June.
    26. Grout, Paul A, 1984. "Investment and Wages in the Absence of Binding Contracts: A Nash Bargining Approach," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(2), pages 449-460, March.
    27. Gerard Hoberg & Gordon Phillips, 2010. "Product Market Synergies and Competition in Mergers and Acquisitions: A Text-Based Analysis," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(10), pages 3773-3811, October.
    28. Hirsch, Barry T, 1991. "Union Coverage and Profitability among U.S. Firms," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(1), pages 69-77, February.
    29. Baginski, Sp, 1987. "Intraindustry Information Transfers Associated With Management Forecasts Of Earnings," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(2), pages 196-216.
    30. Jacob Thomas & Frank Zhang, 2008. "Overreaction to Intra‐industry Information Transfers?," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(4), pages 909-940, September.
    31. Barry T. Hirsch, 2004. "What Do Unions Do for Economic Performance?," Journal of Labor Research, Transaction Publishers, vol. 25(3), pages 415-456, July.
    32. Christensen, Hans B. & Hail, Luzi & Leuz, Christian, 2013. "Mandatory IFRS reporting and changes in enforcement," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 147-177.
    33. Beyer, Anne & Cohen, Daniel A. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Walther, Beverly R., 2010. "The financial reporting environment: Review of the recent literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 296-343, December.
    34. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    35. Foster, George, 1981. "Intra-industry information transfers associated with earnings releases," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(3), pages 201-232, December.
    36. Richard J. Long, 1993. "The Effect of Unionization on Employment Growth of Canadian Companies," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 46(4), pages 691-703, July.
    37. David A. Matsa, 2010. "Capital Structure as a Strategic Variable: Evidence from Collective Bargaining," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(3), pages 1197-1232, June.
    38. Ann C. Frost, 2000. "Explaining Variation in Workplace Restructuring: The Role of Local Union Capabilities," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 53(4), pages 559-578, July.
    39. Michael Minnis & Nemit Shroff, 2017. "Why regulate private firm disclosure and auditing?," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(5), pages 473-502, July.
    40. Gilles Hilary, 2006. "Organized labor and information asymmetry in the financial markets," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 525-548, December.
    41. Laurent Fresard, 2010. "Financial Strength and Product Market Behavior: The Real Effects of Corporate Cash Holdings," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(3), pages 1097-1122, June.
    42. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769, December.
    43. Rogers, Jonathan L. & Van Buskirk, Andrew, 2009. "Shareholder litigation and changes in disclosure behavior," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(1-2), pages 136-156, March.
    44. Luigi Zingales, "undated". "Survival of the Fittest or the Fattest? Exit and Financing in the Trucking Industry," CRSP working papers 336, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
    45. Holger Daske & Luzi Hail & Christian Leuz & Rodrigo Verdi, 2008. "Mandatory IFRS Reporting around the World: Early Evidence on the Economic Consequences," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(5), pages 1085-1142, December.
    46. Bronars, Stephen G & Deere, Donald R, 1993. "Unionization, Incomplete Contracting, and Capital Investment," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(1), pages 117-132, January.
    47. Nicola‐Maria Riley, 1997. "Determinants of Union Membership: A Review," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 11(2), pages 265-301, June.
    48. Shroff, Nemit & Verdi, Rodrigo S. & Yost, Benjamin P., 2017. "When does the peer information environment matter?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 64(2), pages 183-214.
    49. Lee, Charles M. C. & Ma, Paul & Wang, Charles C. Y., 2014. "The Search for Benchmarks: When Do Crowds Provide Wisdom?," Research Papers 3249, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    50. Verrecchia, Robert E., 1983. "Discretionary disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 179-194, April.
    51. Brian J. Bushee & John E. Core & Wayne Guay & Sophia J.W. Hamm, 2010. "The Role of the Business Press as an Information Intermediary," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 48(1), pages 1-19, March.
    52. Francesco Bova, 2013. "Labor Unions and Management’s Incentive to Signal a Negative Outlook," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(1), pages 14-41, March.
    53. Ellwood, David T & Fine, Glenn, 1987. "The Impact of Right-to-Work Laws on Union Organizing," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 95(2), pages 250-273, April.
    54. Freeman, Richard B & Kleiner, Morris M, 1990. "The Impact of New Unionization on Wages and Working Conditions," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(1), pages 8-25, January.
    55. Laurent Fresard, 2010. "Financial Strength and Product Market Behavior: The Real Effects of Corporate Cash Holdings," Post-Print hal-00537081, HAL.
    56. Ron Kasznik & Maureen F. McNichols, 2002. "Does Meeting Earnings Expectations Matter? Evidence from Analyst Forecast Revisions and Share Prices," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(3), pages 727-759, June.
    57. Wagenhofer, Alfred, 1990. "Voluntary disclosure with a strategic opponent," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 341-363, March.
    58. Gerard Hoberg & Gordon Phillips, 2016. "Text-Based Network Industries and Endogenous Product Differentiation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(5), pages 1423-1465.
    59. DeAngelo, Harry & DeAngelo, Linda & Skinner, Douglas J., 1994. "Accounting choice in troubled companies," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1-2), pages 113-143, January.
    60. Michael A. Salinger, 1984. "Tobin's q, Unionization, and the Concentration-Profits Relationship," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 15(2), pages 159-170, Summer.
    61. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:3:p:905-938 is not listed on IDEAS
    62. Barry T. Hirsch, 2008. "Sluggish Institutions in a Dynamic World: Can Unions and Industrial Competition Coexist?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 153-176, Winter.
    63. Mellow, Wesley S, 1981. "Unionism and Wages: A Longitudinal Analysis," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 63(1), pages 43-52, February.
    64. Han, Jcy & Wild, Jj, 1990. "Unexpected Earnings And Intraindustry Information Transfers - Further Evidence," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(1), pages 211-219.
    65. Aobdia, Daniel & Shroff, Nemit, 2017. "Regulatory oversight and auditor market share," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 262-287.
    66. DeAngelo, H,, 1991. "Union Negotiation and Corporate Policy : A Study of Labor "Givebacks" in the Domestic Stel Industry During the 1980s," Papers 91-24, Southern California - School of Business Administration.
    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. Park, Jihwon & Sani, Jalal & Shroff, Nemit & White, Hal, 2019. "Disclosure incentives when competing firms have common ownership," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 387-415.
    2. Christian Leuz & Peter D. Wysocki, 2016. "The Economics of Disclosure and Financial Reporting Regulation: Evidence and Suggestions for Future Research," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 54(2), pages 525-622, May.
    3. Daniel Aobdia, 2018. "Employee mobility, noncompete agreements, product-market competition, and company disclosure," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 23(1), pages 296-346, March.
    4. Richard Chung & Bryan Byung-Hee Lee & Woo-Jong Lee & Byungcherl Charlie Sohn, 2016. "Do Managers Withhold Good News from Labor Unions?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(1), pages 46-68, January.
    5. Chantziaras, Antonios & Dedoulis, Emmanouil & Leventis, Stergios, 2020. "The impact of labor unionization on monitoring costs," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 288-307.
    6. Durnev, Art & Mangen, Claudine, 2020. "The spillover effects of MD&A disclosures for real investment: The role of industry competition," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1).
    7. Jesse A. Ellis & C. Edward Fee & Shawn E. Thomas, 2012. "Proprietary Costs and the Disclosure of Information About Customers," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 50(3), pages 685-727, June.
    8. Jun Chen & Jamie Y. Tong & Wenming Wang & Feida Zhang, 2019. "The Economic Consequences of Labor Unionization: Evidence from Stock Price Crash Risk," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 157(3), pages 775-796, July.
    9. Xia, Jingjing, 2023. "Redrawing the line: Narrowly beating analyst forecasts and journalists’ co-coverage choices in earnings-related news articles," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(3).
    10. Dai, Rui & Duan, Rui & Ng, Lilian, 2026. "Revealing or concealing? The competitive landscape of bad news disclosure," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    11. Ali, Ashiq & Klasa, Sandy & Yeung, Eric, 2014. "Industry concentration and corporate disclosure policy," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(2), pages 240-264.
    12. Ormazabal, Gaizka, 2018. "The Role of Stakeholders in Corporate Governance: A View from Accounting Research," CEPR Discussion Papers 12775, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    13. Heinle, Mirko S. & Kim, Chongho & Taylor, Daniel J. & Zhou, Frank S., 2025. "Signaling long-term information using short-term forecasts," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(1).
    14. Tseng, Yen-Jung & Wu, Minzhi & Feng, Zhi-Yuan & Tan, Sung-Yun, 2025. "The effect of labor unions on capital markets: Evidence from seasoned equity offerings," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    15. Stephan Hollander & Maarten Pronk & Erik Roelofsen, 2010. "Does Silence Speak? An Empirical Analysis of Disclosure Choices During Conference Calls," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 48(3), pages 531-563, June.
    16. Beyer, Anne & Cohen, Daniel A. & Lys, Thomas Z. & Walther, Beverly R., 2010. "The financial reporting environment: Review of the recent literature," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 296-343, December.
    17. Bernard, Darren & Kaya, Devrimi & Wertz, John, 2021. "Entry and capital structure mimicking in concentrated markets: The role of incumbents’ financial disclosures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(2).
    18. Liang, Chuchu, 2024. "Advertising rivalry and discretionary disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1).
    19. Nguyen, Justin Hung & Qiu, Buhui, 2022. "Right-to-Work laws and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    20. Qi Rachel Tang & Alan Guoming Huang, 2025. "KPI information acquisition by analysts: Evidence from conference calls," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(1), pages 569-608, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • M40 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - General
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • J51 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Trade Unions: Objectives, Structure, and Effects
    • J52 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Dispute Resolution: Strikes, Arbitration, and Mediation

    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:eee:jaecon:v:65:y:2018:i:2:p:331-357. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jae .

    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.