How does investors’ perceived ease of information access affect their investment judgments?

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.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Accountancy

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2019

Author dc:creator

• Cikurel, Deni

Contributors dc:contributor

• Fanning, Kirsten
• Jackson, Kevin E.
• Hobson, Jessen L.
• White, Tiffany B.

• Investment judgments
• perceived ease of information access
• search engine use

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2019 Deni Cikurel

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/104993

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/104993