Tone management and labor unions - James Thewissen (UCLouvain)
DefiPP Seminar
Date : 10/03/2020 16:00 - 10/03/2020 17:30
Lieu : Salle C. Joset
Orateur(s) : James Thewissen
Organisateur(s) : Romain Houssa
ABSTRACT
We analyze the influence of labor unions on the narrative content of corporate disclosures and provide empirical evidence that managers deflate the tone of earnings press releases to convey a less optimistic image of a firm’s financial performance. We find that the tone of the qualitative information in earnings press releases is significantly less optimistic as the degree of unionization increases, particularly when financial performance is strong. The results of quasi-natural experiments suggest labor unions causally affect the use of tone deflation, which deflation is stronger during labor negotiations. Our findings also indicate that labor unions lead to a significant weakening of the signaling value of the tone of earnings press releases in predicting future performance.
Contact :
Romain Houssa
Télecharger :
vCal