During the 2008-2009 financial crisis, firms with high social capital, measured as corporate social responsibility (CSR) intensity, had stock returns that were four to seven percentage points higher than firms with low social capital. High-CSR firms also experienced higher profitability, growth,...

We investigate whether social trust improves corporate innovation. Based on a comprehensive firm- level panel dataset of patents filed by companies from 45 countries over 1995–2015, we find that compared with firms in low-trust countries, firms in high-trust countries have higher innovation...

Using a novel dataset of firm-level perceived trustworthiness from the news media and social media, we find that lending banks charge significantly higher loan spread on firms with lower trustworthiness. Loans to these firms also tend to have shorter loan maturities, more financial covenants,...

The current study investigates the usage of virtuous language in the management discussion and analysis (MD&A) section of SEC filings (10-K Form) and the prognostic power of such language for takeover performance. The sample under study, obtained from Bloomberg, is comprised of a large number of...

Using a novel dataset that captures public perceptions of the trustworthiness of client firms by extracting and converting social media feeds into an index, we find that auditors charge higher fees for client firms with lower trustworthiness, as client firms with higher trustworthiness are less...

This study investigates the perceived and actual trustworthiness and truthfulness of female managers when using rhetoric to advertise their trustworthiness in public disclosure documents. We find that the stock market reacts more favorably to trust rhetoric if the document has been prepared...

Of many psychological biases, overconfidence has been described as one of the most powerful. Few studies have focused on collective overconfidence in team decision-making by boards of directors since boards are typically "black boxes". Based on the shared cognition and trickle-down effect, we...

We study the impact of CEO overconfidence on workplace safety. We provide robust evidence of a positive relation between CEO overconfidence and workplace injury rates, implying that CEO overconfidence impairs workplace safety. In cross-sectional analysis, we find that the documented effect is...

This study examines whether gender diversity in firms’ upper echelons pays for investors by comparing the performance of gender-diverse portfolios in 19 international markets. First, using a portfolio approach, we compare the risk-adjusted performance and risk exposures of stock portfolios...