Social Media Analysts and Corporate Innovation Strategy

75 Pages Posted: 30 Nov 2023 Last revised: 12 Feb 2025

See all articles by Jeroen Koenraadt

Jeroen Koenraadt

London School of Economics and Political Science

Tim Martens

Bocconi University - Department of Accounting

Christoph J. Sextroh

Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg; Tilburg University - Tilburg School of Economics and Management

Date Written: February 12, 2025

Abstract

We study non-traditional investment research as a source of information for corporate strategic decisions, such as investments into innovation. Using a comprehensive sample of social media analyst reports from Seeking Alpha and exogenous variation in social media analysts' coverage overlaps, we show that firms are more likely to invest into technologies similar to firms covered by the same analyst. The effect varies with social media analysts' characteristics and differences in their contributed content that capture their unique information set. Overall, our results are consistent with non-traditional investment research enhancing firms' information environment as an additional source of information that guides corporate strategic decisions.

Keywords: Social media analyst, Seeking Alpha, Information intermediaries, Managerial learning, Information spillover, Corporate innovation, Patents

JEL Classification: D83, G14, M40, O30

Suggested Citation

Koenraadt, Jeroen and Martens, Tim and Sextroh, Christoph J., Social Media Analysts and Corporate Innovation Strategy (February 12, 2025). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4637619 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4637619

Jeroen Koenraadt

London School of Economics and Political Science ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

Tim Martens

Bocconi University - Department of Accounting ( email )

Via Roentgen 1
Milan, 20136
Italy

Christoph J. Sextroh (Contact Author)

Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg ( email )

Oldenburg, DE Lower Saxony 26129
Germany

Tilburg University - Tilburg School of Economics and Management ( email )

P.O. Box 90153
Tilburg, DC Noord-Brabant 5000 LE
Netherlands

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