Online Social Networks, Media Supervision and Investment Efficiency: An Empirical Examination of Chinese Listed Firms

Xiaoping Yang, Dongmei Cao, Panos Andrikopoulos, Zonghan Yang, Tina Bass

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    27 Citations (Scopus)
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    Abstract

    Prior literature suggests that media reports acting as external supervision improve information transparency and corporate governance leading to increased investment efficiency. This study empirically tests this hypothesis in the context of online social networks by investigating the combined effects of online social networking and media reports on investment efficiency using a sample of Chinese listed firms. Our results show that the interaction of media reports and Tobin’s q ratio is negatively related to corporate investment efficiency. However, the introduction of online social networks turns this relationship from a negative to a positive and statistically significant one. The combined factors significantly increase investment efficiency in non-SOEs (State Owned Enterprises) but not in SOEs. We provide evidence that online social networking effectively mitigates the negative effect of media supervision on investment efficiency, further advancing knowledge of the link of external supervision and corporate governance.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number119969
    Number of pages13
    JournalTechnological Forecasting and Social Change
    Volume154
    Early online date22 Feb 2020
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - May 2020

    Funder

    This work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China under Grant NSSFC [ 19BJL039 ] and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant NSFC [ 71834006 ].

    Keywords

    • Online social networks
    • Media supervision
    • Investment efficiency
    • China
    • Sina Weibo

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