Secret sentiments make for good announcements: Does unjustified managerial belief benefit tourism firm performance?

Abstract

Restructuring announcements are an important medium through which tourism managers communicate with market participants. This study is an initial investigation of whether and how managerial secret sentiment expressed in restructuring announcements impacts the short-term stock market performance. The results show that: 1) managerial secret sentiment positively influences tourism firm performance; 2) when the sentiment is categorized as optimistic, cautious or uncertain, the three categories are seen to have different effects on performance in terms of both strength and timing; and 3) managers' tourism-related experience, firm type and restructuring strategy type all can moderate the benefit boundary of managerial secret sentiment on firms. This research contributes to corporate governance literature by proposing a new theory impacting firm performance, i.e., frame-sentiment theory.