The voice of retail investors and corporate earnings quality
研究利用中国交易所的投资者互动平台上的散户帖子，发现散户能通过协调行动和增加监管审查来监督公司、提升盈余质量，尤其在传统监督机制失效时作用关键。
Abstract Chinese stock exchanges have launched two investor interactive exchange platforms (IIEPs) to facilitate communication between retail investors and listed companies. Using retail investor posts on the IIEPs as a proxy for monitoring by minority shareholders, we show that minority shareholders can play an active monitoring role in corporate governance and improve earnings quality. We identify coordination among minority shareholders and increased regulatory scrutiny as key mechanisms through which IIEPs exert their influence. This form of monitoring proves critical, especially in the absence or ineffectiveness of traditional oversight bodies like institutional investors, auditors and government regulators. Our findings underscore the constructive role of minority shareholders in corporate governance, challenging the notion of them as passive free riders. Implementing IIEPs could be a valuable model for other nations looking to bolster minority shareholder rights.