Can information and communication overload influence smartphone app users' social network exhaustion,privacy invasion and discontinuance intention? A cognition-affect-conation approach

Thanks to the expansion of network technologies and the coupling of smartphone hardware, younger generations have unparalleled access to a diverse range of information and interactive communication opportunities. Despite voluminous research on the causes of social network exhaustion and privacy invasion, limited academic attention has been devoted to understanding the driving forces and contributing factors for discontinuing usage of smartphone app. Drawing on the cognition-affect-conation paradigm, the present research proposes a conceptual research model to examine how information overload and communication overload effect social network exhaustion, privacy invasion, and ultimately, smartphone app users' intentions to discontinue usage. The study evaluates data from 442 smartphone app users, employing statistical analyses to demonstrate that both information overload and communication overload significantly impact users' exhaustion and privacy invasion. Additionally, social network exhaustion and privacy invasion are two major predictors of smartphone app discontinuance intention. By identifying the influential factors and causes of younger generations' discontinuous usage intention of smartphone app, this study meets the need for a thorough assessment of the social network exhaustion and privacy invasion phenomena. The findings may potentially enhance comprehension of the discontinuation intention phenomenon in the context of cognitive overload. Furthermore, they may provide novel insights for practitioners regarding effective strategies conducive to managing mobile social network adoption behavior, as well as the preservation of engagement levels among young users in mobile-saturated societies.     

Information leakage of ADRs Prior to company issued guidance

We examine whether the degree of selective disclosure (as measured by information leakage prior to managerial earnings guidance) of foreign firms with ADRs is different from that of U.S. firms. We find that there is no variation of leakage before earning guidance between ADRs and U.S. firms. This result is consistent with the prediction that, despite being exempt from Regulation FD, ADRs have sufficient incentives to avoid selective disclosure even without the regulatory enforcement. In addition, we attempt to determine whether the variation in selective disclosure among the foreign firms with ADRs is conditioned on the respective home country transparency and governance standards. We find that country-specific characteristics, such as corruption perception, economic freedom and the legal system origin, explain the variation in information leakage of ADRs.     

中国制造业企业开放式创新行为及影响因素

开放式创新行为对提高企业创新绩效有显著影响。基于2012年世界银行调查数据，对中国企业开放式创新行为影响因素进行了实证分析。研究表明：①企业开放式创新行为在区域、行业上分布不均；②竞争对手情况、信息技术支持度、数据软件共享度、产品出口、产品销售范围等对研发合作有显著正向影响；③高管工作经历、竞争者数量、信息技术支持度等对企业创新开放度有显著正向影响。     

Does Investor Sentiment Affect the Value Relevance of Accounting Information?

We investigate whether investor sentiment affects the relationships between accounting variables and contemporaneous stock returns. Using price-relevant accounting variables identified by Chen and Zhang (2007) and the investor sentiment index constructed by Baker and Wurgler (2006), we find that the value relevance of accounting variables is collectively lower in high sentiment periods than in low sentiment periods. More importantly, earnings yield appears to be more related to contemporaneous stock returns in high sentiment periods, while other accounting variables are more related to stock returns in low sentiment periods. The effect of investor sentiment on the value relevance of accounting information is stronger for firms that are more difficult to value and to arbitrage.     

On the efficiency of intra-industry information transfers: The dilution of the overreaction anomaly

We revisit the stock market anomaly documented by Thomas and Zhang (2008) and show that the apparent mispricing of information transfers has decayed over time, as the US markets experienced rapid improvements in the efficiency of the underlying price formation processes. Utilizing recent advancements in market microstructure research to estimate firm-specific proxies for market efficiency, we demonstrate that the existence of the overreaction anomaly (where stock prices of late announcers in response to the earnings reported by early announcers in the same industry are negatively related to subsequent price responses of late announcers to their own earnings reports) is specific to an earlier sample period and results from the inefficient incorporation of information into prices, largely attributable to an environment with high barriers to arbitrage. Our results indicate that the pricing efficiency of intra-industry information transfers has increased in the recent years of increased liquidity and markedly higher trading activity.     

Accounting quality,information risk and the term structure of implied volatility around earnings announcements

We examine the association between accounting quality, which is used as a proxy for firm information risk, and the behavior of the term structure of implied option volatility around earnings announcements. By employing a large sample of US firms having options traded on their equity during 1996–2010, we find that lower (higher) accounting quality is significantly associated with stronger (weaker) changes in the steepness of the term structure of implied volatility curve around quarterly earnings announcements. This finding (which is robust to controls for business-stemming uncertainty regarding future firm performance) is consistent with a stronger differential of short vs. long-term uncertainty for higher information risk firms, indicating greater uncertainty on the future economic performance of poorer vs. stronger accounting quality firms. We also establish the trading implications of these findings by demonstrating a (profitable in-sample) self-financed option trading strategy that is based on the quality of the accounting information released on earnings announcement days.     

Markets for information: Of inefficient firewalls and efficient monopolies

In this paper we study market environments where information is costly to acquire and is also useful to potential competitors. Agents may sell, or buy, reports over the information acquired and choose their trades in the market on the basis of what they learnt. Reports are unverifiable – cheap talk messages – hence the quality of the information transmitted depends on the conflicts of interest faced by the senders. We find that, when information has a prevalent horizontal differentiation component, in equilibrium information is acquired when its costs are not too high and in that case it is also sold, though reports are typically noisy. The market for information is in most cases a monopoly, and there is underinvestment in information acquisition. We also show that regulatory interventions, in the form of firewalls, only make the inefficiency worse. Efficiency can be attained with a monopolist selling differentiated information, provided entry is blocked.     

Information asymmetry in the innovation adoption decision of tourism and hospitality SMEs in emerging markets: A mixed-method analysis

Investment decisions, particularly innovation adoption decisions, can sustain long-term viability of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). However, information asymmetry could limit the ability of SME management to make informed innovation adoption decisions. Even though information asymmetry is a multidimensional construct, prior literature has only focused on financial information asymmetry in such decisions. Therefore, the current study fills the research gap by conducting two separate studies: one analyzes World Bank Group data from 1250 observations in 11 emerging markets, and the other interviews eight SME owners and managers. The findings of the mixed-method studies suggest that financial, business regulation, and court information asymmetry decrease the likelihood of SMEs' product innovation adoption. The study contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of information asymmetry in SMEs’ decision-making rooted in agency theory. Moreover, its methodological contribution lies in measuring information asymmetry with micro-level data.     

Evaluating information diffusion speed and its determinants in social media networks during humanitarian crises

The rapid diffusion of information is critical to combat the extreme levels of uncertainty and complexity that surround disaster relief operations. As a means of gathering and sharing information, humanitarian organizations are becoming increasingly reliant on social media platforms based on the Internet. In this paper, we present a field study that examines how effectively information diffuses through social media networks embedded in these platforms. Using a large dataset from Twitter during Hurricane Sandy, we first applied Information Diffusion Theory to characterize diffusion rates. Then, we empirically examined the impact of key elements on information propagation rates on social media. Our results revealed that internal diffusion through social media networks advances at a significantly higher speed than information in these networks coming from external sources. This finding is important because it suggests that social media networks are effective at passing information along during humanitarian crises that require urgent information diffusion. Our results also indicate that dissemination rates depend on the influence of those who originate the information. Moreover, they suggest that information posted earlier during a disaster exhibits a significantly higher speed of diffusion than information that is introduced later during more eventful stages in the disaster. This is because, over time, participation in the diffusion of information declines as more and more communications compete for attention among users.     

Antecedents of mobile payment loyalty: An extended perspective of perceived value and information system success model

Drawing on the information system success model and perceived value theory, we develop a research model to examine factors that may affect user satisfaction and loyalty of mobile payment platforms. Empirical data was collected from users using Alipay and WeChat Pay in China, and a total of 410 valid responses were gathered for data analysis. The results show that the multi-dimensional formative perceived value including benefits and sacrifice is important determinant of mobile payment user satisfaction and loyalty. The three benefit dimensions of functional value, experiential value and social value are more important value components than the two sacrifice dimensions of risk and cost, and experiential value is the dominant component of mobile payment users' value perception. As for the antecedents of perceived value, system quality and service quality mainly affect perceived benefits, while information quality has a greater impact on risk. The research results provide the contribution of specific value dimensions to users' perceived value and the impact of quality characteristics on specific perceived value for mobile payment platform providers, thus helping them to adopt effective strategies to strengthen market competitiveness and retain existing users.