How does investors’ perceived ease of information access affect their investment judgments?
type: CreativeWork
description: By manipulating the perceived ease of information access through use of a search engine, I provide experimental evidence that investors are more likely to rely on information gist and use shallow processing after using an online search engine to access a firm’s financial information. Results show that investors using a search engine to access a company’s financial information were more likely to invest in a company with a higher likelihood of real earnings management (REM) than a company with the same net income but a lower likelihood of REM. On the other hand, investors who did not use a search engine were more likely to invest in the lower likelihood of REM company. Furthermore, investors who accessed financial information via a search engine judged the financial information more easily available, were more likely to reopen the financial information, and scored lower on the retention test. The study contributes to the accounting literature by showing that technologies that increase perceived ease of information access change how investors process and use financial information.
abstract: By manipulating the perceived ease of information access through use of a search engine, I provide experimental evidence that investors are more likely to rely on information gist and use shallow processing after using an online search engine to access a firm’s financial information. Results show that investors using a search engine to access a company’s financial information were more likely to invest in a company with a higher likelihood of real earnings management (REM) than a company with the same net income but a lower likelihood of REM. On the other hand, investors who did not use a search engine were more likely to invest in the lower likelihood of REM company. Furthermore, investors who accessed financial information via a search engine judged the financial information more easily available, were more likely to reopen the financial information, and scored lower on the retention test. The study contributes to the accounting literature by showing that technologies that increase perceived ease of information access change how investors process and use financial information.
author: Cikurel, Deni
language: en
keywords: Investment judgments, perceived ease of information access, search engine use
date published: 2019-08-23T20:35:46Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:44Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/104993