The impact of MD&A digital transformation information disclosure on stock price synchronicity in China

With the continuous development of the global digital economy, digital transformation has become an important path for enterprises. The management discussion and analysis (MD&A) section of listed companies’ annual reports has progressively incorporated detailed information on their ongoing digital transformation efforts, reflecting the growing significance of this trend in corporate reporting. This paper uses data from 2011 to 2022 of A-share listed companies in China to investigate whether and how the MD&A digital transformation information affects the stock price synchronicity. The frequency of keywords related to digital transformation within the MD&A section of the annual report is analyzed and measured to quantify digital transformation information. The results show that digital transformation information in MD&A can significantly reduce stock price synchronicity. Further mechanism tests show that analyst and media act as information intermediaries to disseminate more firm-specific information to the market. In addition, heterogeneity tests show that this effect is mainly reflected in state-owned companies and larger companies. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers, investors, and regulators in planning regulations.