The unintended consequence of social media criticisms: an earnings management perspective
研究中国股票论坛上的批评性帖子如何促使企业进行盈余管理、降低财务透明度，对关注社交媒体与公司治理关系的学者有参考价值。
This paper investigates the impact of social media criticisms on financial reporting quality. Analyzing data from the leading Internet stock message board in China, we demonstrate that postings on stock message boards could promote earnings management, i.e. reducing financial transparency. This finding is further enhanced by employing the instrumental variable approach and the difference-in-differences approach and is explained by the cognitive evaluation theory. Additional analysis suggests that the positive relation between social media criticisms and earnings management cannot be attributed to a deterioration in operating performance or internal governance and is more pronounced in postings from senior users.