Prior Disclosure Research Articles

Processing of product placements and brand persuasiveness

PurposeThis research contributes to literature on marketing communication by exploring the roles of depth of processing and the dispositional factor, need for cognition (NFC), on consumer perceptions of product placement.Design/methodology/approachA web-based experiment with a 2 (low versus high prominence) x2 (low versus high brand awareness) x2 (with versus without prior disclosure) between-subjects full factorial design was conducted.FindingsThe results indicate that prominent placements were found to elicit more extensive processing, which was negatively correlated with brand attitudes. A significant negative relationship between NFC and purchase intention towards a placed brand was also revealed.Practical implicationsThe study offers managerial and policy implications for practitioners and educators. It is suggested that brand practitioners should avoid placing brands too prominently or in film genres which are cognitively demanding. The low NFC group appears to be more vulnerable to covert marketing. Therefore it is suggested that media educators target this group and plan effective media literacy programs to guard youngsters from surreptitious selling.Originality/valueThis is the first study to empirically examine the role of prominence, brand awareness and prior disclosure in the processing of product placement information and their influence on product placement effectiveness.

Unveiling consumers' privacy paradox behaviour in an economic exchange

Privacy paradox is of great interest to IS researchers and firms gathering personal information. It has been studied from social, behavioural, and economic perspectives independently. However, prior research has not examined the degrees of influence these perspectives contribute to the privacy paradox problem. We combine both economic and behavioural perspectives in our study of the privacy paradox with a price valuation of personal information through an economic experiment combined with a behavioural study on privacy paradox. Our goal is to reveal more insights on the privacy paradox through economic valuation on personal information. Results indicate that general privacy concerns or individual disclosure concerns do not have a significant influence on the price valuation of personal information. Instead, prior disclosure behaviour in specific scenario, like with healthcare providers or social networks, is a better indicator of consumer price valuations.

Unveiling consumer's privacy paradox behaviour in an economic exchange.

Privacy paradox is of great interest to IS researchers and firms gathering personal information. It has been studied from social, behavioural, and economic perspectives independently. However, prior research has not examined the degrees of influence these perspectives contribute to the privacy paradox problem. We combine both economic and behavioural perspectives in our study of the privacy paradox with a price valuation of personal information through an economic experiment combined with a behavioural study on privacy paradox. Our goal is to reveal more insights on the privacy paradox through economic valuation on personal information. Results indicate that general privacy concerns or individual disclosure concerns do not have a significant influence on the price valuation of personal information. Instead, prior disclosure behaviour in specific scenario, like with healthcare providers or social networks, is a better indicator of consumer price valuations.

The effects of a reasonable investor perspective and firm's prior disclosure policy on managers' disclosure judgments

Security laws and accounting standards suggest that reasonable investors' expectations are an important consideration for disclosure judgments. Regulators have expressed concerns that many disclosure judgments are made without adequate consideration of how investors would evaluate the information. However, the psychological literature suggests that individuals may face difficulties considering the facts from another's perspective. We conduct two experiments to examine whether prompting managers to take the perspective of a reasonable investor affects their disclosure recommendations of a probable negative change in their company's earnings expectations, and whether this effect is impacted by the firm's prior disclosure policy (known that its past preference to be biased towards no disclosure versus unknown). We find that experienced managers are more likely to recommend disclosure when they are prompted to take the perspective of a reasonable investor than when they are not and this effect is stronger when the firm's prior disclosure policy is unknown.

To Tell or Not to Tell.

The underreporting of rape is well known; however, there is less information on women who fail to disclose to anyone. This online study suggests that 24% of 242 women who were non-disclosing compared with those who had disclosed were significantly less likely to seek treatment for emotional injuries. Also, almost two thirds of non-disclosing women believed that the abuse was their fault versus 39.1% of women with prior disclosure. Of clinical interest is that regardless of disclosure pattern, there was no significant difference in reports of depression, anxiety, or posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the majority of respondents endorsed support for online counseling over telephone or individual contact.

The Nature of Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Disclosure by Non-GHG Registered Australian Companies An Explanation of the Changing Rationale

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the changing rationale of voluntary GHG disclosure by non-GHG registered companies over time and among industry sectors.Design/methodology/approach – A GHG disclosure index is used to evaluate the levels of GHG disclosure in 2009 and 2011 annual reports of non-registered companies. Various specific categories based on the nature of GHG disclosure and consistent with prior GHG disclosure studies are defined to distinguish “hard” to mimic disclosure items and “soft talk” disclosure items.Findings – This research highlights that the average level of GHG disclosure from “hard” to mimic disclosure items increased by non-GHG registered companies in less carbon-intensive industries and over time. In General, non-GHG registered companies seem to improve their disclosure by incorporating more “behavioural management” actions rather than “symbolic” actions. Consistent with voluntary disclosure and signalling theories, companies having good news to tell disclose their superior GHG information to promote their superior environmental performance. Research limitations/implications – The findings should be useful for stakeholders who are interested in GHG disclosure strategies. Also, the content analysis of the annual reports provides some clarity in respect of the most common aspects of GHG disclosure by non-GHG registered companies which is helpful in the evaluation of correspondence between carbon disclosure strategies and the objectives of carbon abatement.Originality/value – Previous studies mostly investigate the differences in the type of GHG disclosure (narrative and numeric) over time, among companies subject to mandatory GHG regulations. However, this study examines the changing rationale in the nature of GHG disclosure of non-GHG registered companies over time and among industries by a mixture of quite contrary theories.

Information dissemination on intellectual capital in mergers and acquisitions: purchase price allocations, press releases and business press

In order to reduce information asymmetries in relation to a firm's current decisions and long-term strategy, firms must consistently provide information to stakeholders. This paper investigates intellectual capital (IC) information disclosed in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) provided through three different disclosure channels (voluntary press releases, related newspaper articles and subsequent mandatory corporate disclosures in the notes to the financial statements). For a sample of 215 randomly selected US and European M&As, we analyse 215 press releases, 1025 newspaper articles and 215 purchase price allocations. Our findings suggest that IC disclosure in press releases is not perceived as informative and qualitative forward-looking IC information in voluntary corporate disclosures appears to lack credibility. Moreover, we empirically demonstrate interdependencies across the three disclosure channels. The business press seems to filter IC information provided in press releases. The amount of IC disclosure in the notes to the financial statements is positively associated with prior IC disclosure in newspaper articles, but negatively associated with IC disclosure in press releases. The managements of acquirer firms appear to pay attention to news coverage and public opinion. However, both voluntary and mandatory corporate disclosures appear to substitute rather than complement each other.

Prevalence and public health implications of state laws that criminalize potential HIV exposure in the United States.

For the past three decades, legislative approaches to prevent HIV transmission have been used at the national, state, and local levels. One punitive legislative approach has been enactment of laws that criminalize behaviors associated with HIV exposure (HIV-specific criminal laws). In the USA, HIV-specific criminal laws have largely been shaped by state laws. These laws impose criminal penalties on persons who know they have HIV and subsequently engage in certain behaviors, most commonly sexual activity without prior disclosure of HIV-positive serostatus. These laws have been subject to intense public debate. Using public health law research methods, data from the legal database WestlawNext© were analyzed to describe the prevalence and characteristics of laws that criminalize potential HIV exposure in the 50 states (plus the District of Columbia) and to examine the implications of these laws for public health practice. The first state laws were enacted in 1986; as of 2011 a total of 67 laws had been enacted in 33 states. By 1995, nearly two-thirds of all laws had been enacted; by 2000, 85 % of laws had been enacted; and since 2000, an additional 10 laws have been enacted. Twenty-four states require persons who are aware that they have HIV to disclose their status to sexual partners and 14 states require disclosure to needle-sharing partners. Twenty-five states criminalize one or more behaviors that pose a low or negligible risk for HIV transmission. Nearly two-thirds of states in the USA have legislation that criminalizes potential HIV exposure. Many of these laws criminalize behaviors that pose low or negligible risk for HIV transmission. The majority of laws were passed before studies showed that antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduces HIV transmission risk and most laws do not account for HIV prevention measures that reduce transmission risk, such as condom use, ART, or pre-exposure prophylaxis. States with HIV-specific criminal laws are encouraged to use the findings of this paper to re-examine those laws, assess the laws’ alignment with current evidence regarding HIV transmission risk, and consider whether the laws are the best vehicle to achieve their intended purposes.

Why Do Doctors Make Mistakes? A Study of the Role of Salient Distracting Clinical Features

Diagnostic errors have been attributed to faulty reasoning and cognitive biases, but minimizing errors requires understanding the mechanisms underlying biases. The authors investigated whether salient distracting features (SDFs)-case findings that tend to grab physicians' attention because they are strongly associated with a particular disease, but are indeed unrelated to the problem-misdirect diagnostic reasoning, causing errors. In a 2012 study conducted at Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam, 72 internal medicine residents diagnosed 12 clinical cases (6 simple, 6 complex) in three different formats: without a SDF, with a SDF in the beginning, and with a SDF at the end. In a within-subjects design, each participant solved 2 simple cases and 2 complex cases in each format. Proportions of correct diagnoses in each case type were compared by performing repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA). There was a significant main effect of SDFs and a significant interaction effect between SDFs and case complexity. The presence of SDFs in the beginning of complex cases caused errors decreasing the proportion of correct diagnoses in comparison both with cases without SDFs (0.18, 95% CI, 0.13-0.23 versus 0.43, 95% CI, 0.35-0.51; P < .001) or with SDFs at the end (0.18, 95% CI, 0.13-0.23 versus 0.36, 95% CI, 0.29-0.43; P < .001). SDFs did not affect performance when presented near the end of cases. SDFs early in a case are apparently an important source of diagnostic errors. Physicians should be aware of the need to overcome their influence.

Protecting an Invention after Public Disclosure

The present article studies the provisions for protecting an invention in the event of a prior disclosure as is available under the patent statutes of different countries – Europe, USA, Japan and India. The paper also compares the provisions under the statutes of these countries with the provisions in India and determines that the laws in India are generally in conformity with the laws in other major patenting countries. The paper then identifies some gaps in the Act which needs to be addressed and further clarified. The paper also provides certain suggestions which may be incorporated in the Indian Patent Act either through legislation or through judicial pronouncements that according to the authors will bring in more clarity to the Act helping the legal practitioners and the scientific community in India.

Firm size and the voluntary disclosure of nonfinancial information by private versus public firm managers

Purpose – The specific purpose of this study is to understand how firm size and public/private affiliation (employment status) affect voluntary disclosure decisions concerning quantitatively immaterial nonfinancial information. Although the prior disclosure literature is large and has considered a variety of factors including size and to a lesser degree employment status, this study offers a new perspective by considering both factors in the context of qualitative materiality. Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents 136 manager participants with 24 cues representing nonfinancial, realistic business events and solicits their disclosure judgments. The cues are adapted from Pinsker et al. and contain information that does not meet widely-accepted quantitative thresholds for disclosure (e.g. 5 percent of net income), yet were identified by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as more likely to be material. This paper uses a median split of total assets and total revenues to determine “large” and “small” firms. Managers' judgments are measured in an own-firm setting (The context is their current employer, which can be public or private.). Findings – This paper finds that disclosure is positively linked to firm size, but this paper do not find an employer status effect. Additional testing reveals that private firm managers are sensitive to SEC oversight and other external, competitive pressures, suggesting that they face mimetic pressures to behave like their public firm counterparts. In sum, their findings contribute significantly to the disclosure, strategic management, institutional theory and judgment-and-decision-making (JDM) literatures. Originality/value – Although there is a vast literature on public firm managers' voluntary disclosure behavior (mostly involving large firms), there is little research regarding the voluntary disclosure behavior of small or large private firm managers involving nonfinancial information.

659 – Facilitating disclosure of abuse by reluctant children: a test of the revised nichd protocol

Introduction Professional guidelines for forensic interviews of children have emphasized cognitive factors associated with children's memory retrieval and paid less attention to the emotional factors that may inhibit the cooperativeness of reluctant interviewees. Objectives The current study explored whether an additional focus on rapport-building altered the dynamics of interviews with alleged victims of intra-familial abuse, and increased abuse disclosures. Methods 426 4- to 13-year-old suspected victims of intra-familial abuse were interviewed using either the NICHD Investigative Interview Standard Protocol (SP) or a Revised Protocol (RP) designed to enhance rapport between the child and interviewer. Results Children were more likely to make valid (corroborated) allegations of abuse when the RP was employed, with variation according to age, gender and prior disclosure. Similar patterns were evident in a larger sample of 1424 which included non-corroborated cases. Subsequent analyses focusing on a subset of interviews (n=200) were designed to explore differences in the dynamics of the interviews using the SP or RP which may account for the increase of allegation rates using the RP. Methods The interviews were coded to identify expressions of the interviewers’ support and the children's reluctance and uncooperativeness in the pre-substantive portions of the interviews. Results As expected, RP interviews contained more supportive comments and fewer unsupportive comments. Children interviewed in this way showed reduced reluctance, with remarkably fewer expressions of resistance and denial but also fewer omissions. Conclusions Focus on rapport-building altered the interview dynamics, rendering reluctant children more cooperative and more likely to disclose their abuse.

Can disclosures lead consumers to resist covert persuasion? The important roles of disclosure timing and type of response

While sponsorship disclosure is proposed as a remedy for covert marketing, i.e., tactics such that the persuasive nature of the communication is not clear to consumers, little is known about whether or when disclosures prompt consumers to correct for persuasion. Three experiments reveal that covert marketing, in the form of subtle product placements, can increase brand recall and attitudes but that both instructions to avoid influence and mere disclosure of sponsorship can lead to correction. The first experiment demonstrates that consumers are able to correct both brand attitudes and stated recall when there are instructions to avoid influence. The following two experiments show that mere sponsorship disclosure can evoke use of persuasion knowledge for correction. However, disclosure timing differentially influences correction for recall and attitudes. Disclosure prior to exposure to the covert marketing tactic leads only to correction for effects on recall; attitude is as high with a prior disclosure as with placement with no disclosure. Disclosure after placement provides general correction of the impact of the covert marketing tactic on both recall and attitudes.

Communication Privacy Management Theory: Exploring Coordination and Ownership Between Friends

Researchers in this study explored friends’ boundary coordination and ownership surrounding private information as posed by Communication Privacy Management theory. One hundred pairs of friends (N = 200) completed measures about the risk of a prior disclosure and the degree of discussion about who could/could not know the information. In support of Communication Privacy Management theory, disclosers engaged in greater boundary coordination when the information was riskier. When the information was riskier, disclosers and receivers perceived that the receivers had less ownership rights over the information. Disclosers reported negative emotional reactions to hypothetical dissemination of higher-risk information when they perceived their friends as having less ownership, but positive emotional reactions of lower-risk information when they perceived their friends as having more ownership. Receivers were more likely to disseminate the information when they perceived they had ownership over the information.

Firm Characteristics and Stock Price

This study examines the stock price reaction to the internal control reporting required under Section 404 of the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act of 2002 for three distinct groups of firms. After controlling for general stock price movements, we find that stock returns are most negative for firms that delay filing of their internal control reports, continue to be negative for firms with ineffective internal controls, and are positive for firms with effective internal controls. The decrease in stock prices of the first two groups is more pronounced for those with a lower return on assets, higher growth rate in sales, and no prior disclosure of their internal controls weaknesses. Our results indicate that market participants value the reliability of financial information ensuing from Section 404 compliance, irrespective of firm size and debt proportion. Thus, regulators and policymakers worldwide should consider mandating comparable SOX 404 compliance for all publicly held companies to improve the accuracy and reliability of financial reports.

Discretionary disclosure and the market reaction to restatements

This paper presents evidence that management’s disclosure choices related to a restatement are associated with the market reaction at the time the restatement is announced. The two aspects of pre-restatement disclosure choice we examine are the amount of disclosure, hypothesized to reduce information asymmetries, and the tone of disclosure, hypothesized to exacerbate the effect of subsequently-disconfirmed market expectations. Our results provide support for both hypothesized effects, controlling for characteristics that previous research has shown to affect market reaction to restatements—financial attributes of restatements, and concurrent disclosure choices such as prominence of the announcement. We also find that concurrent and prior disclosure characteristics have equivalent and complementary power in explaining market reaction to restatements, while interactive effects indicate that pre-restatement disclosure choices reduce the marginal market impact of concurrent disclosure characteristics.

Analysts Forecast Accuracy And The Presentation Of A Mandated Accounting Change

&lt;span&gt;This paper examines whether the presentation method of a mandated accounting change affects financial analysts forecasts. SFAS 96, Accounting for Income Taxes (FASB, 1987), allowed companies to use either the cumulative effect or the retroactive restatement method to account for the adoption of the change. In addition to the comparison of the two presentation methods, a regression model was developed to include the number of analysts making forecasts, the dispersion of their man forecast, prior disclosure of the accounting change, and the relative year of adoption. Analysts forecasts for companies using the two different methods were compared over several periods to determine if the alternative presentations enhanced forecast accuracy and if that was dependent on the forecast horizon. While some of the covariates were significantly correlated, the results indicate that analysis gained no forecast accuracy advantage from having the increased disclosure.&lt;/span&gt;

What Explains Variation In Segment Reporting? Evidence From Kuwait

The purpose of this study is to evaluate both the segment disclosure practice of firms listed on the Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) and the factors that influence their level of segment disclosures. Consistent with prior disclosure research, the level of segment disclosure is examined using a disclosure index based on the mandatory requirements of International Accounting Standard (IAS) 14 (Segment Reporting). The results show that the average level of segment disclosure in a sample of 123 KSE-listed firms in 2008 was 56%%, ranging from 18% to 94%. Users of KSE-listed firms financial statements might reasonably expect greater segment disclosures from larger, older, highly leveraged, and profitable KSE-listed firms, as well as from firms audited by a Big-4 audit firm. The findings provide feedback to the regulatory and enforcement bodies in Kuwait on current segment disclosure practice among KSE-listed companies and the factors that influence the level of segment disclosures. The noticeable variation in the level of segment disclosure among listed firms suggests a need for further monitoring of the enforcement of required segment disclosure.

Board of directors' independence and executive compensation disclosure transparency

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the relationship between board of directors' independence and executive compensation disclosures transparency.Design/methodology/approachThe paper examines compensation disclosure practices of a sample of 181 firms listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Board independence from management is assessed through an aggregate score which takes into account the proportion of independent directors, board leadership structure (i.e. CEO is the board chairperson), and the existence and independence of board committees. A cross‐sectional regression analysis is used to examine the relationship between board independence and the extent of compensation disclosure.FindingsThe paper finds that board independence from management is positively related to the transparency of executive compensation‐related information. In addition, this study documents a positive (negative) relation between firm size, US cross‐listing, growth opportunities (leverage) and the extent of executive compensation disclosure.Research limitations/implicationsThe study's results provide support to the managerial opportunism hypothesis in executive compensation. These findings highlight the importance of the board of directors as an effective governance mechanism which limits managerial rent‐seeking in the design as well as the disclosure of executive compensation practices.Originality/valueThis paper extends prior disclosure studies by examining the impact of board characteristics on the transparency of executive compensation disclosures in a principles‐based governance regime. Furthermore, executive compensation disclosure provides an interesting setting in which to examine the ability of the directors to act independently from managers in a conflict of interests situation.

How trainees would disclose medical errors: educational implications for training programmes

The disclosure of harmful errors to patients is recommended, but appears to be uncommon. Understanding how trainees disclose errors and how their practices evolve during training could help educators design programmes to address this gap. This study was conducted to determine how trainees would disclose medical errors. We surveyed 758 trainees (488 students and 270 residents) in internal medicine at two academic medical centres. Surveys depicted one of two harmful error scenarios that varied by how apparent the error would be to the patient. We measured attitudes and disclosure content using scripted responses. Trainees reported their intent to disclose the error as 'definitely' (43%), 'probably' (47%), 'only if asked by patient' (9%), and 'definitely not' (1%). Trainees were more likely to disclose obvious errors than errors that patients were unlikely to recognise (55% versus 30%; p < 0.01). Respondents varied widely in the type of information they would disclose. Overall, 50% of trainees chose to use statements that explicitly stated that an error rather than only an adverse event had occurred. Regarding apologies, trainees were split between conveying a general expression of regret (52%) and making an explicit apology (46%). Respondents at higher levels of training were less likely to use explicit apologies (trend p < 0.01). Prior disclosure training was associated with increased willingness to disclose errors (odds ratio 1.40, p = 0.03). Trainees may not be prepared to disclose medical errors to patients and worrisome trends in trainee apology practices were observed across levels of training. Medical educators should intensify efforts to enhance trainees' skills in meeting patients' expectations for the open disclosure of harmful medical errors.