Gender and Earnings Conference Calls

87 Pages Posted: 29 May 2020 Last revised: 2 Dec 2023

See all articles by Nerissa C. Brown

Nerissa C. Brown

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Bill B. Francis

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) - Lally School of Management

Wenyao Hu

Saint Mary's University; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) - Department of Finance and Accounting

Thomas Shohfi

Wayne State University - Mike Ilitch School of Business

Tengfei Zhang

Rutgers University - Rutgers School of Business-Camden

Daqi Xin

Nankai University

Date Written: March 21, 2023

Abstract

Using quarterly earnings conference call transcripts, we investigate gender issues in interactions between sell-side analysts and executives. We find that women are generally less “visible” on conference calls. Specifically, female analysts appear on calls less frequently, speak less, and ask fewer follow-up questions. Female analysts and executives exhibit less uncertainty, less numerical information, and fewer hesitations in their dialogue than their male counterparts. Female executives (analysts) are interrupted more (less) frequently. The above relations are mitigated with greater state-level attention to #MeToo. Further, we introduce a new measure of firm gender equality/similarity using the first principal component of nine gender-related features on conference calls. We find that gender equality is associated with positive market reaction and lower bid-ask spreads. Earnings call gender equality is positively associated with analysts’ following stock recommendation, forecast accuracy, and forecast speed, and negatively associated with analysts’ following dropped coverage and the number of revisions. Overall, our results suggest that gender equality on earnings conference calls improves market efficiency and benefits analysts’ forecasts by enhancing calls’ information content and flow.

Keywords: Analysts, Conference Calls, Conversation, Executives, Gender, Management, Sell-Side Analysts, Textual Analysis

JEL Classification: G10, G14, J16, M12, M14, M41

Suggested Citation

Brown, Nerissa C. and Francis, Bill B. and Hu, Wenyao and Hu, Wenyao and Shohfi, Thomas and Zhang, Tengfei and Xin, Daqi, Gender and Earnings Conference Calls (March 21, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3473266 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3473266

Nerissa C. Brown

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ( email )

1206 South Sixth Street
Champaign, IL 61820
United States

Bill B. Francis

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) - Lally School of Management ( email )

Troy, NY 12180
United States

Wenyao Hu

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) - Department of Finance and Accounting ( email )

Pittsburg Building 2000
110, 8th street
Troy, NY 12180
United States

Saint Mary's University ( email )

923 Robie Street
Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 3C3
Canada

HOME PAGE: http://wenyaohu.com

Thomas Shohfi (Contact Author)

Wayne State University - Mike Ilitch School of Business ( email )

5201 Cass Avenue
Detroit, MI 48202

Tengfei Zhang

Rutgers University - Rutgers School of Business-Camden ( email )

227 Penn Street
Camden, NJ 08102
United States

Daqi Xin

Nankai University ( email )

Tianjin
China

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics

Downloads
1,131
Abstract Views
4,623
Rank
39,965
PlumX Metrics