Asymmetric Tone in Management Discussion and Analysis and Its Impact: Evidence from the Chinese Stock Market
研究了管理层讨论与分析（MD&A）中两种非对称语气（凹语气和凸语气）与股价崩盘风险的关系，发现凸语气会提高崩盘风险并降低未来业绩，对高自由现金流、财务报告不透明和非国有企业影响更显著。
This paper investigates the relationship between managerial tone in management discussion and analysis (MD&A) disclosures and stock price crash risk. We make a distinction between two types of tone—concave and convex—based on how managers’ tone changes according to whether performance is good or bad. Tone is classified as ‘concave’ (‘convex’) when managers overstate (understate) bad news and understate (overstate) good news. Using data on Chinese listed firms from 2013 to 2018, we find that convex tone is positively associated with stock price crash risk, and negatively associated with future performance. The positive relationship between convex tone and stock price crash risk is more pronounced for firms with high free cash flow, opaque financial reporting, and non‐stated‐owned enterprises. These results suggest that the use of a convex tone in MD&A may have a negative impact on the capital market.