Negative News and Investor Trust: The Role of $Firm and #CEO Twitter Use

W. Brooke Elliott, Stephanie M. Grant, Frank Douglas Hodge

Research output: Working paper

Abstract

We examine how CEOs can facilitate the development of investor trust that helps mitigate the effects of negative information. Results from an experiment show that investors trust the CEO more and are more willing to invest in the firm when the CEO communicates firm news followed by a negative earnings surprise through a personal Twitter account than when the news and surprise comes from the CEO via a website or from the firm’s Investor Relations Twitter account or website. A follow-up experiment shows that repeating the negative news does not incrementally affect investors who received the news from the CEO’s Twitter account, but does further negatively impact investors who received the news via other disclosure mediums, especially those who received the news via the Investor Relations Twitter account. Our results have implications for firms and executives considering the costs and benefits of communicating with investors via Twitter.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Number of pages59
DOIs
StatePublished - May 31 2015

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Investors
Chief executive officer
News
Twitter
Investor relations
Web sites
Experiment
Earnings surprises
Surprise
Disclosure
Costs and benefits

Keywords

  • social media
  • Twitter
  • social bond
  • trust
  • investment decisions
  • negative earnings surprise
  • repeated information

Cite this

Negative News and Investor Trust : The Role of $Firm and #CEO Twitter Use. / Elliott, W. Brooke; Grant, Stephanie M.; Hodge, Frank Douglas.

2015.

Research output: Working paper

Elliott, WB, Grant, SM & Hodge, FD 2015 'Negative News and Investor Trust: The Role of $Firm and #CEO Twitter Use'. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2612444
Elliott WB, Grant SM, Hodge FD. Negative News and Investor Trust: The Role of $Firm and #CEO Twitter Use. 2015 May 31. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2612444
Elliott, W. Brooke ; Grant, Stephanie M. ; Hodge, Frank Douglas. / Negative News and Investor Trust : The Role of $Firm and #CEO Twitter Use. 2015.
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