John R. Busenbark is an Assistant Professor of Management in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. John received a PhD in strategic management from Arizona State University, and an MBA and BS in finance from Indiana University. His research interests are in the domains of corporate governance and research methodology. More specifically, he has published research on information economics, behavioral capital markets, top management teams, and empirical model specification.
John will hold a research seminar as part of the ICEBS program at our University on Tuesday, September 18, 10:00 a.m. in room 201 (HK14b). The title of the seminar is: “When do managers disclose negative information?”
Managers can voluntarily disclose information about their firms to improve unfavorable impressions of negative events, but research in this area consistently finds only a minority of managers actually do this. We draw on voluntary disclosure theory the examine when managers are apt to actually disclose or withhold information about negative events. We theorize the severity of the event influences the benefits and costs of disclosing information about it, such that managers are more likely to disclose information when the event is more severe. To further explore these benefits and costs, we also theorize managers are likely to widely disclose information when the event is more severe, and they tend to wait longer so as to best tailor the information. Our empirical estimation supports our predictions.
We thank the ICEBS program to generously sponsor John’s visit, and we look forward to a fun and productive visit!