Corporate Transparency and the Impact of Investor Sentiment on Stock Prices

Using China's stock market as the testing venue, this study examines how corporate transparency helps explain the sensitivity of stock prices to general investor sentiment. We find that firms with low corporate transparency, measured by a battery of proxies including state ownership, the prevalence of related party transactions, accrual-based earnings management, audit opinions, and the quality of audit firms, are more affected by investor sentiment than are firms with high corporate transparency. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of corporate transparency in mitigating the effects of investor sentiment on stock prices. Data, as supplemental material, are available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.1911 . This paper was accepted by Brad Barber, finance.