The spillover effects of managers' evasiveness: Evidence from earnings communication conferences

Abstract

We investigate how managers' evasiveness affects peer firms' stock returns. Managers' evasiveness is measured by the degree of managers' irrelevant answers and non‐answers during earnings communication conferences. Our results show that peer firms' investors react negatively to managers' evasiveness. Moreover, we find that the spillover effects are stronger for peer firms with lower information transparency, and the leading firms with a higher market power or a higher leverage ratio.