Title: The value relevance of involuntary disclosure: first evidence from listed companies operating in the food industry

Authors: Alessandra Lardo; Daniele Marandola; Alberto Manzari

Addresses: Department of Business and Economics, Parthenope University of Naples, 13, Via Generale Parisi, Palazzo Pacanowski, 80133 Napoli, Italy ' Department of Economics and Law, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Via S. Angelo, Loc. Folcara, 03043 Cassino (FR), Italy ' Department of Economics, Management and Business Law, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Piazza Umberto I, 1, 70121 Bari (BA), Italy

Abstract: This research aims to investigate the issue of corporate involuntary disclosure that is generated through social media, which are considered drivers for the spread of companies' intellectual capital value to the various parties to whom external company disclosure is addressed. Defining whether companies' involuntary disclosure is value relevant for stakeholders and, primarily, for investors, emerges as a relevant element for this research to understand how companies need to strategically invest in the social media management to improve new forms of disclosure. Social media involuntary disclosure is measured by popularity metrics related to the companies' social media profiles and we want to analyse empirically if these popularity metrics affect companies' financial performance and provide useful information for investors' management decision affecting the corporate disclosure landscape. The research provides both a systematic literature review and an empirical study in the context of European food listed companies to enrich previous conflicting literature results.

Keywords: corporate disclosure; involuntary disclosure; social media; business performance; food industry.

DOI: 10.1504/IJDCET.2020.112580

International Journal of Digital Culture and Electronic Tourism, 2020 Vol.3 No.2, pp.189 - 207

Received: 31 Dec 2019
Accepted: 15 May 2020
Published online: 20 Jan 2021 *

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