IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/soceps/v93y2024ics0038012124000892.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The value relevance of voluntary disclosure through social media platforms: Evidence from European Union listed firms

Author

Listed:
  • Macchioni, Riccardo
  • Prisco, Martina
  • Zagaria, Claudia

Abstract

This paper examines whether the level of voluntary disclosure through social media platforms provides value-relevant information. Economic theory suggests that information is value relevant whether it signals for something capable of increasing firm market value. Based on a sample of 200 European Union listed firms over the 2020–2022 period, we find that more voluntary disclosure through social media platforms increases firm market value, thus suggesting that it contains value-relevant information. Empirical evidence holds to several robustness checks, such as endogeneity tests, alternative regression specifications, and cross-sectional analyses. We further examine whether the level of voluntary disclosure through social media platforms influences the relation between current returns and future earnings. We find that more voluntary disclosure improves the association between current returns and future earnings to the extent that current returns are more informative about future earnings. This study adds to the growing academic debate on the role of social media usage for firm value.

Suggested Citation

  • Macchioni, Riccardo & Prisco, Martina & Zagaria, Claudia, 2024. "The value relevance of voluntary disclosure through social media platforms: Evidence from European Union listed firms," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:soceps:v:93:y:2024:i:c:s0038012124000892
    DOI: 10.1016/j.seps.2024.101890
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0038012124000892
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.seps.2024.101890?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gerda Barauskaite & Dalia Streimikiene, 2021. "Corporate social responsibility and financial performance of companies: The puzzle of concepts, definitions and assessment methods," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(1), pages 278-287, January.
    2. She, Chaoyuan & Michelon, Giovanna, 2019. "Managing stakeholder perceptions: Organized hypocrisy in CSR disclosures on Facebook," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 54-76.
    3. Kothari, S. P. & Sloan, Richard G., 1992. "Information in prices about future earnings : Implications for earnings response coefficients," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2-3), pages 143-171, August.
    4. Barth, Mary E. & Beaver, William H. & Landsman, Wayne R., 2001. "The relevance of the value relevance literature for financial accounting standard setting: another view," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1-3), pages 77-104, September.
    5. Giacomo Manetti & Marco Bellucci, 2016. "The use of social media for engaging stakeholders in sustainability reporting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 29(6), pages 985-1011, August.
    6. Li, Lei & Zhang, Jiayang & An, Xun, 2023. "Using social media for efficient brand marketing: An evaluation of Chinese Universities using Bilibili," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    7. Malmi, Teemu, 1999. "Activity-based costing diffusion across organizations: an exploratory empirical analysis of Finnish firms," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 24(8), pages 649-672, November.
    8. Samuel Jebaraj Benjamin & Pallab Kumar Biswas & M Srikamalaladevi M Marathamuthu & Murugesh Arunachalam, 2022. "Social Media Sentiments and Firm Value," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(26), pages 2983-2997, June.
    9. Keane, Michael & Neal, Timothy, 2023. "Instrument strength in IV estimation and inference: A guide to theory and practice," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 235(2), pages 1625-1653.
    10. Claudio Nuber & Patrick Velte & Jacob Hörisch, 2020. "The curvilinear and time‐lagging impact of sustainability performance on financial performance: Evidence from Germany," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 232-243, January.
    11. Antti Rautiainen & Vilma Luoma-aho, 2021. "Reputation and financial reporting in Finnish public organizations," Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 33(4), pages 487-511, April.
    12. Xueming Luo & Jie Zhang & Wenjing Duan, 2013. "Social Media and Firm Equity Value," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(1), pages 146-163, March.
    13. Xiaoyan Wen, 2013. "Voluntary Disclosure and Investment," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(2), pages 677-696, June.
    14. Jesper Banghøj & Thomas Plenborg, 2008. "Value relevance of voluntary disclosure in the annual report," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 48(2), pages 159-180, June.
    15. Zhuoming Wang & Muhammad Jahangir Ali & Mahmoud Al‐Akra, 2013. "Value relevance of voluntary disclosure and the global financial crisis: evidence from China," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 28(5), pages 444-468, May.
    16. Verrecchia, Robert E., 1983. "Discretionary disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 179-194, April.
    17. Ellen Pei‐yi Yu & Christine Qian Guo & Bac Van Luu, 2018. "Environmental, social and governance transparency and firm value," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(7), pages 987-1004, November.
    18. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    19. Hyunkwon Cho & Sunhwa Choi & Robert Kim, 2023. "Less timely earnings announcements and voluntary disclosure," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3-4), pages 524-564, March.
    20. Niamh M. Brennan & Doris M. Merkl-Davies, 2018. "Do firms effectively communicate with financial stakeholders? A conceptual model of corporate communication in a capital market context," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(5), pages 553-577, July.
    21. Russell Lundholm & Linda A. Myers, 2002. "Bringing the Future Forward: The Effect of Disclosure on the Returns‐Earnings Relation," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 809-839, June.
    22. Eli Amir & Amir Ziv, 1997. "Economic Consequences of Alternative Adoption Rules for New Accounting Standards," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(3), pages 543-568, September.
    23. Siganos, Antonios & Vagenas-Nanos, Evangelos & Verwijmeren, Patrick, 2014. "Facebook's daily sentiment and international stock markets," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 107(PB), pages 730-743.
    24. Cao, Dongmei & Meadows, Maureen & Wong, Donna & Xia, Senmao, 2021. "Understanding consumers’ social media engagement behaviour: An examination of the moderation effect of social media context," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 835-846.
    25. Shan, Siqing & Peng, Jing & Wei, Yigang, 2021. "Environmental Sustainability assessment 2.0: The value of social media data for determining the emotional responses of people to river pollution—A case study of Weibo (Chinese Twitter)," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    26. Selerio, Egberto & Caladcad, June Anne & Catamco, Mary Rose & Capinpin, Esehl May & Ocampo, Lanndon, 2022. "Emergency preparedness during the COVID-19 pandemic: Modelling the roles of social media with fuzzy DEMATEL and analytic network process," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 82(PA).
    27. Marianne Simonsen & Lars Skipper, 2006. "The costs of motherhood: an analysis using matching estimators," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(7), pages 919-934, November.
    28. Sang Kim & Zhichuan (Frank) Li, 2021. "Understanding the Impact of ESG Practices in Corporate Finance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-15, March.
    29. Antti Rautiainen & Jonna Jokinen, 2022. "The value-relevance of social media activity of Finnish listed companies," International Journal of Accounting & Information Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(2), pages 301-323, March.
    30. Lian Fen Lee & Amy P. Hutton & Susan Shu, 2015. "The Role of Social Media in the Capital Market: Evidence from Consumer Product Recalls," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 367-404, May.
    31. Collins, Daniel W. & Kothari, S. P. & Shanken, Jay & Sloan, Richard G., 1994. "Lack of timeliness and noise as explanations for the low contemporaneuos return-earnings association," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 289-324, November.
    32. Sheth, Jagdish N. & Newman, Bruce I. & Gross, Barbara L., 1991. "Why we buy what we buy: A theory of consumption values," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 159-170, March.
    33. Selin Duz Tan & Oktay Tas, 2021. "Social Media Sentiment in International Stock Returns and Trading Activity," Journal of Behavioral Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(2), pages 221-234, April.
    34. repec:eme:mfppss:mf-08-2021-0361 is not listed on IDEAS
    35. Lars Skipper & Marianne Simonsen, 2006. "The costs of motherhood: an analysis using matching estimators," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(7), pages 919-934.
    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. Moumen, Néjia & Ben Othman, Hakim & Hussainey, Khaled, 2015. "The value relevance of risk disclosure in annual reports: Evidence from MENA emerging markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 177-204.
    2. Michael Bradbury, 2011. "Direct or Indirect Cash Flow Statements?," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 21(2), pages 124-130, June.
    3. Yiwei Fang & Iftekhar Hasan & Woon Sau Leung & Qingwei Wang, 2019. "Foreign ownership, bank information environments, and the international mobility of corporate governance," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(9), pages 1566-1593, December.
    4. Ting-Kai Chou, 2013. "Information content of credit ratings in pricing of future earnings," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 217-250, February.
    5. Nerantzidis, Michail & Tampakoudis, Ioannis & She, Chaoyuan, 2024. "Social media in accounting research: A review and future research agenda," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    6. Wang, Fengrong & Mbanyele, William & Muchenje, Linda, 2022. "Economic policy uncertainty and stock liquidity: The mitigating effect of information disclosure," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    7. David S. Jenkins & Gregory D. Kane & Uma Velury, 2009. "Earnings Conservatism and Value Relevance Across the Business Cycle," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9-10), pages 1041-1058.
    8. Edmonds, Jennifer E. & Leece, Ryan D., 2017. "An investigation of the effectiveness of the division of corporate finance as a monitor of financial reporting," Research in Accounting Regulation, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 44-51.
    9. Ewa Cukrowska-Torzewska & Anna Matysiak, 2018. "The Motherhood Wage Penalty: A Meta-Analysis," VID Working Papers 1808, Vienna Institute of Demography (VID) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna.
    10. Nikolaev, V. & van Lent, L.A.G.M., 2005. "The Endogeneity Bias in the Relation Between Cost-of-Debt Capital and Corporate Disclosure Policy," Other publications TiSEM 5960a342-0adc-4f85-bf87-2, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    11. Dargenidou, Christina & Jackson, Richard H.G. & Tsalavoutas, Ioannis & Tsoligkas, Fanis, 2021. "Capitalisation of R&D and the informativeness of stock prices: Pre- and post-IFRS evidence," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 53(4).
    12. Ma, Xinxin, 2022. "Parenthood and the gender wage gap in urban China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    13. Samuel Jebaraj Benjamin & Zhuoan Feng & Pallab Kumar Biswas, 2023. "Negative Social Media Sentiments and Capital Structure," Capital Markets Review, Malaysian Finance Association, vol. 31(2), pages 1-22.
    14. David S. Jenkins & Gregory D. Kane & Uma Velury, 2009. "Earnings Conservatism and Value Relevance Across the Business Cycle," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(9‐10), pages 1041-1058, November.
    15. Doron Israeli & Charles M. C. Lee & Suhas A. Sridharan, 2017. "Is there a dark side to exchange traded funds? An information perspective," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 1048-1083, September.
    16. Schleicher, Thomas & Hussainey, Khaled & Walker, Martin, 2007. "Loss firms’ annual report narratives and share price anticipation of earnings," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 153-171.
    17. Mishari M. Alfaraih & Faisal S. Alanezi, 2011. "Does Voluntary Disclosure Level Affect The Value Relevance Of Accounting Information?," Accounting & Taxation, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 3(2), pages 65-84.
    18. 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).
    19. Nikolaev, V. & van Lent, L.A.G.M., 2005. "The Endogeneity Bias in the Relation Between Cost-of-Debt Capital and Corporate Disclosure Policy," Discussion Paper 2005-67, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    20. Francesco Paolone & Fabrizio Granà & Laura Martiniello & Riccardo Tiscini, 2021. "Environmental risk indicators disclosure and value relevance: An empirical analysis of Italian listed companies after the implementation of the Legislative Decree 254/2016," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(5), pages 1471-1482, September.

    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:soceps:v:93:y:2024:i:c:s0038012124000892. 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/seps .

    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.