Information Leaks and Voluntary Disclosure
34 Pages Posted: 13 May 2019
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Information Leaks and Voluntary Disclosure
Information Leaks and Voluntary Disclosure
Date Written: April 13, 2019
Abstract
We study firms’ voluntary disclosures in a world of potential information leaks. We find that managers adapt their disclosure strategy to the likelihood and expected scope of leaks. An increasing likelihood fosters voluntary disclosure if leaks merely expose the manager’s information endowment and impedes disclosure if leaks in addition uncover the content of the manager’s information. We identify a non-monotonic effect on voluntary disclosure if the scope of information leakage is uncertain, i.e., if leaks reveal the information content with positive probability. Our results imply that information leaks are likely to increase voluntary disclosure whenever investors have difficulties interpreting the economic consequences of the leaked information. This is typically the case in industries with complex business models and innovative products. In mature industries, leaked information replaces voluntary disclosure. Our findings may help explaining mixed empirical evidence on voluntary disclosure in different reporting environments.
Keywords: voluntary disclosure, information leakage, information endowment, market transparency
JEL Classification: M41, G14, D82, C02
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation