CEO Social Media Presence and Insider Trading Behavior

26 Pages Posted: 3 Mar 2020 Last revised: 26 Mar 2024

See all articles by Zhichuan Frank Li

Zhichuan Frank Li

University of Western Ontario - Ivey School of Business

Claire Y.C. Liang

Georgetown University

Zhenyang Tang

Clark University

Date Written: March 21, 2024

Abstract

Prior research finds that online social media usage may lower self-control and encourage indulgent behavior. We find that corporate CEOs show similar tendencies: CEOs with online social media presence are more likely to succumb to lower self-control and abuse their information advantage to profit from unethical opportunistic inside trades. Specifically, social media presence strongly predicts the incidence, intensity, and profitability of CEO insider trading activity. Our results only reside in buys (not in sells), especially opportunistic buys which likely contain more material non-public information.

Keywords: social media, insider trading

JEL Classification: G14, M12, G3

Suggested Citation

Li, Zhichuan Frank and Liang, Claire Y.C. and Tang, Zhenyang, CEO Social Media Presence and Insider Trading Behavior (March 21, 2024). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3532495 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3532495

Zhichuan Frank Li (Contact Author)

University of Western Ontario - Ivey School of Business ( email )

1151 Richmond Street North
London Ontario, Ontario N6A 3K7
Canada

Claire Y.C. Liang

Georgetown University ( email )

Washington, DC 20057
United States

Zhenyang Tang

Clark University ( email )

950 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610
United States

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