Peer Effects of Corporate Disclosures: Evidence From the Registration-Based IPO System in China
利用中国2019年科创板注册制改革作为准实验，研究发现同行公司在IPO期间披露更多信息时，个体公司管理层盈利预测的精确度显著下降，且该效应在竞争压力大、业绩不确定性高的公司中更明显。
China launched the registration-based IPO system in 2019 whereby all firms listed on the newly established STAR board (“peer firms”) are required to disclose specific innovation and industry-related information in their prospectus. Using this event as a quasi-experiment, our study investigates the causal effects of peer firms’ disclosures on individual firms’ disclosure strategy. We find that the precision of individual firms’ management earnings forecast (MEF), both its form and width, significantly decreases when peer firms disclose more information during the IPO period. In cross-sectional analyses, we find this effect to be more pronounced for individual firms that are likely to experience greater competitive pressure from industry peer firms and firms with higher risks and performance uncertainty that make them more cautious to external competitive pressure. This result suggests that peer firms’ disclosures induce greater competitive pressure and uncertainty about future firm performance, triggering managers of individual firms to adopt a more cautious disclosure strategy. Overall, our study extends the literature on the peer effects in corporate disclosure decisions and documents potential unintended consequences of mandatory disclosure policies.