The link between Internet investor relations and information asymmetry

South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences

 
 
Field Value
 
Title The link between Internet investor relations and information asymmetry
 
Creator Nel, George F. Smit, Eon Brummer, Leon M.
 
Subject accounting; investor relations; finance; information management investor relations; internet investor relations; internet financial reporting; information asymmetry; liquidity
Description Background: Information asymmetry manifests when one party has more or better information than the other. Information asymmetry is said not only to increase transaction costs and decrease liquidity, but also to diminish the quality of the investment decisions taken by investors, thus weakening the overall functioning of markets. Aim and setting: A well-developed Internet investor relations (IIR) strategy, coupled with increased disclosure levels, should theoretically decrease information asymmetry levels. The majority of related studies to date used either an indirect disclosure proxy or involved an examination of the annual report, and have used data from United States or European companies. Empirical studies to date have produced mixed results. The aim of this study was to ascertain whether a relationship exists between the quality of IIR (via corporate websites) and information asymmetry. Method: This study used data from Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE)-listed companies. Multiple regression analysis was applied with information asymmetry as dependent variable and IIR as one of a set of selected explanatory variables. A self-constructed measurement instrument was used to measure IIR for a sample of 85 companies. Given the inherent difficulty with direct observation of information asymmetry, three different proxies were used to estimate information asymmetry. Results: A significant negative association was found between IIR and information asymmetry for all three information asymmetry proxies that were used: bid-ask spread, price impact, and analyst following. Conclusion: Empirical support is provided for the notion that companies may potentially benefit from a well-developed IIR strategy through reduced information asymmetry.
 
Publisher AOSIS Publishing
 
Contributor INET BFA JSE
Date 2018-04-12
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Quantitative research; Content analysis
Format text/html application/epub+zip application/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajems.v21i1.1966
 
Source South African Journal of Economic and Management Sciences; Vol 21, No 1 (2018); 10 pages 2222-3436 1015-8812
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://sajems.org/index.php/sajems/article/view/1966/1198 https://sajems.org/index.php/sajems/article/view/1966/1197 https://sajems.org/index.php/sajems/article/view/1966/1199 https://sajems.org/index.php/sajems/article/view/1966/1175
 
Coverage South Africa 2015 —
Rights Copyright (c) 2018 George F. Nel, Eon V.D.M. Smit, Leon M. Brummer https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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