Disclosure of investor relationship activities and stock crash risk: Evidence from private in-house meetings

Abstract

In July 2012, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (China) made it mandatory for all listed firms to electronically publish standard summary reports through the exchange's web portal for all investor relationship activities. In this study, we focus on one important type of investor relationship activity—the private in-house meeting—and analyze the relationship between the disclosure of int-house meetings and stock crash risk. Using data collected over the 2009–2017 period and adopting a difference-in-difference approach, we find that mandatory disclosure of in-house meetings is negatively associated with future crash risk and that the effect is stronger in firms with higher information asymmetry. Our results, which remain robust after a number of sensitivity checks, should be of interest to both regulators and policymakers.