European Financial Management

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• Option‐implied information and quality of patents

  This research explores how option‐implied information predicts quality of patents. Using several measures of option‐implied information, we find that only the option to stock volume (O/S) ratio positively and significantly predicts quality of patents around patent grant announcements. The findings are not entirely driven by information from the stock market and the probability of informed trading. Further investigations show that the predictability of O/S on patent quality is stronger when market sentiment is high, firms have a higher short‐sale cost, and the quality of patents is relatively high.

• Gender, workplace preferences and firm performance: Looking through the glass door

  Using Glassdoor data we show that women are less satisfied at work than men and that female employees care more about work‐life balance. Further analysis shows that this gender difference in workplace preference vanishes at the manager level, suggesting that women who care less about work‐life balance self‐select into career paths that ultimately lead to management positions. Exploring the performance implications, we show that family‐friendly workplaces with smaller gender gaps in work‐life balance satisfaction are associated with better firm performance. Overall, our study implies that policies that aim to narrow the gender satisfaction gap can be socially and economically desirable.

• Insider trading in multinational firms

  We explore insider trading at multinational firms and find multinational firm insiders make larger trades followed by larger abnormal returns relative to those at domestic firms. Multinational firm insiders profitably purchase underpriced, value stocks with low past returns. They trade more profitably, not only because of market pricing opportunities, but also because of the advantageous timing of informed trades before earnings announcements. Insider trading profits are highest at multinational firms with foreign sales in regions culturally and linguistically distinct from the United States. These findings are consistent with opportunistic insiders strategically profiting from difficult to process foreign information.

• Lead independent director and earnings management

  In this study, we examine the effects of lead independent directors (LIDs) on firms' earnings management. On the basis of US firms from 2000 to 2018, those with LIDs managed earnings less, as reflected by the absolute value of discretionary accruals. Specifically, we find the effect is likely to be more prominent among firms with less disclosure transparency, weaker corporate governance and higher risk. In addition, we find that firms with LIDs tend to increase R&D and capital expenditures, reduce leverages and enhance firm values. Overall, the findings indicate the monitoring of LIDs can effectively reduce firms' earnings management and enhance firm values.

• Investor sentiment and the risk–return relation: A two‐in‐one approach

  Traditional finance theory posits a positive risk–return relation, but empirical evidence is inconclusive. Retail investor sentiment has long been viewed as a distorting factor, while more recently institutional investor sentiment is thought to play a role. We examine the separate and joint impacts of retail and institutional investor sentiments on the risk‐return relation. We find, at both market and firm levels, the risk‐return relation is more likely to be distorted by the two investor‐type sentiments jointly, rather than separately. We further find a cross‐sectional pattern, with the risk‐return relation being more sensitive to investor sentiment for stocks with specific characteristics.

• Do fund managers time momentum? Evidence from mutual fund and hedge fund returns

  By examining fund returns we find strong evidence that both hedge funds and mutual funds trade on momentum. Moreover, the average hedge fund has modest momentum timing skill, trading more aggressively when momentum profits are higher, while the average mutual fund does not. Momentum trading alone does not translate into superior performance. However, funds with momentum timing ability significantly outperform and the risk‐adjusted‐return‐difference between the top and the bottom timers is around 1.7% (1.3%) per year for hedge (mutual) funds. We provide further evidence that dynamic momentum strategies enhance fund performance, and momentum timing skills vary considerably with fund investment styles.

• Institutional shareholder services' proxy voting guidelines and ROE management

  We examine the impact of the Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) proxy voting guidelines on managers' opportunistic reporting behaviours. In February 2015, the ISS introduced a new advisory policy based on firms' return on equity (ROE) and started to issue negative recommendations for top executive election in firms whose past average and most recent ROE are lower than 5%. We find that managers are more likely to achieve the 5% ROE after implementing the policy, and they do so by discretionary activities. Our findings imply that accounting‐based guidelines issued by a proxy voting advisor can generate managers' incentives for opportunistic reporting.

• Equity market and the transmission channels of monetary policy: Before and after the zero lower bound

  We examine the effectiveness of the interest rate channel and the credit channel of monetary policy before and after the zero lower bound (ZLB), using intraday stock returns. We construct a number of industry‐specific and firm‐specific indicators to capture the sensitivity of firms' demand to interest rates (interest rate channel) and firms' financial constraints (credit channel). We find that the transmission of monetary policy has shifted across both periods. Conventional monetary policy works through both the neoclassical interest rate channel and the credit channel, while unconventional policy is propagated primarily via the credit channel which became even more effective at the ZLB. Before the ZLB the transmission channels operate primarily through target rate shocks rather than forward guidance announcements, whereas both forward guidance and large scale asset purchases were equally important for the credit channel at the ZLB. We also find strong evidence that transmission channels are asymmetric depending on the state of the stock market (bull/bear, tighter/easier credit conditions, high/low volatility), and the type of policy surprises (positive/negative). Our findings are robust with respect to a number of model extensions and alternative specifications.

• Social networks and managerial rent‐seeking: Evidence from executive trading profitability

  This study examines whether board social networks are associated with executive trading profitability. Using a sample of US public firms with a history of executive trading from years 2000 to 2015, we find robust evidence that the profitability of executive trading is significantly lower in firms with higher levels of board social networks. The evidence is consistent with our view that board social networks effectively curb executives' private information advantage over outsiders, thus leading to a lower level of managerial rent‐seeking. Our research has policy implications for regulators concerned about the role of corporate board in capital markets.

• Issue Information: European Financial Management 1/2024

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• Lead independent director and earnings management

  In this study, we examine the effects of lead independent directors (LIDs) on firms' earnings management. On the basis of US firms from 2000 to 2018, those with LIDs managed earnings less, as reflected by the absolute value of discretionary accruals. Specifically, we find the effect is likely to be ...

• Investor sentiment and the risk–return relation: A two‐in‐one approach

  Traditional finance theory posits a positive risk–return relation, but empirical evidence is inconclusive. Retail investor sentiment has long been viewed as a distorting factor, while more recently institutional investor sentiment is thought to play a role. We examine the separate and joint impacts ...

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