Research Seminar
[Brown Bag] Do Executives Leverage Social Media as an Additional Information Channel, and How? Evidence from Digital Paywall Adoption by Prof. Guoli CHEN, INSEAD
| Abstract: | Abstract: To examine executives' strategic use of social media, we exploit a natural experiment: the staggered adoption of digital paywalls by local media outlets, which exogenously reduces the accessibility of firm-related information in traditional media. Leveraging a staggered difference-in-differences (DiD) research design, we find that executives from local firms affected by digital paywalls significantly increase their social media posting activities relative to unaffected non-local firms. This result provides robust evidence that executives intentionally utilize social media as an additional information channel in response to accessibility constraints on traditional media. Furthermore, posts by executives from paywall-affected firms attract heightened public attention and exhibit intensified impression management tactics. At the firm level, we document that executives' social media activities effectively alleviate information asymmetry before paywall adoption; however, this beneficial effect weakens significantly once traditional media accessibility declines. Finally, we identify two important contingencies moderating these effects: the extent of pre-existing local media coverage and the proportion of negative local media coverage prior to paywall adoption. |
| Date: | Apr 22 (Tue), 2025 10:30 am - 12:00 noon |
| Time: | 10:30AM - 12:00PM |
| Venue: | 6-208, Level 6, Lau Ming Wai Academic Building (LAU) |
| Details: | Speaker bio: Prof. Guoli Chen is a Professor of Strategy, Mubadala Chair in Corporate Governance and Strategy at INSEAD. He teaches Competitive Strategy, Blue Ocean Strategy, Corporate Strategy, China Strategy and Corporate Governance to MBA, EMBA PhD and Executive participants. Prof. Chen received his Ph.D. in strategic management from the Pennsylvania State University. His research focuses on the influence of top executives, boards of directors, and human capital on strategic choices and organizational outcomes. His work has been published in top academic journals including Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Management Science, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal and among others. His articles and opinions also appear in newspapers and magazines, such as Barron’s, Bloomberg, Business Times, CFO, Channel News Asia, China Daily, Economist, Financial Times, Forbes, Harvard Business Review (online), South China Morning Post, Washington Post etc. |
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