| With the increasing proportion of text information in the company’s annual report and the gradual maturity of text analysis technology,the phenomenon of differentiated disclosure of management tone and the implied strategic disclosure behavior have attracted wide attention.There are two opposing views on the influence of short selling mechanism on enterprise behavior.Under the "constraint view",short selling mechanism has a good governance effect on the opportunistic behavior of management and reduces the tone manipulation of management.Under the "pressure view",short selling mechanism intensifies the short-sighted behavior of management and promotes the tone manipulation of management.How does the introduction of short selling affect management tone manipulation?Therefore,this paper selects Chinese A-share listed companies from 2007 to2021 as research samples,proposes A pair of competitive hypotheses based on the "constraint view" and "pressure view" of short selling respectively,and uses the multi-time point differential model to empirically test the influence of short selling mechanism on management tone manipulation.It also examines the heterogeneity of the relationship between two external environmental factors,different short-selling pressure intensity and audit quality,and two internal interest factors,different management shareholding and financing constraints.At the same time,it clarifies the action mechanism of short-selling mechanism on management tone manipulation.The empirical results of this paper show that:(1)Short selling mechanism promotes management tone manipulation,which supports the "pressure view" of short selling.This conclusion is still valid after PSM-DID test,placebo test and replacement of explained variables test.(2)From the perspective of external environmental factors,higher short-selling pressure intensity promotes the positive influence of short-selling mechanism on management tone manipulation,while higher audit quality weakens the positive influence of short-selling mechanism on management tone manipulation.From the perspective of internal interest driving factors,higher management shareholding weakens the positive influence of short selling mechanism on management tone manipulation,while higher financing constraints promote the positive influence of short selling mechanism on management tone manipulation.(3)The influence mechanism indicates that the downward pressure of stock price caused by short selling mechanism makes the short-sighted behavior of management more serious,thus promoting the tone manipulation of management.The results of this paper provide empirical evidence for the influence of short selling mechanism on management tone manipulation,and have certain reference value for companies to improve the quality of information disclosure,investors to improve the efficiency of information use,and external regulators to strengthen supervision,so as to optimize the information environment of the capital market. |
