This study examines peer effects in corporate disclosure decisions. Peer effects suggest that the average behavior of a group influences the behavior of individual group members. Consistent with peer effects, I find that disclosures made by industry peers induce firm disclosure. Peer effects in disclosure are more pronounced when a firm's strategic uncertainty is higher, indicating that peer firm disclosure reduces the external uncertainty arising from the firm's interaction with its industry peers and thus increases the precision of managerial private information. I also find that peer effects are stronger when a firm's dependence on external financing is greater, suggesting that peer firm disclosure increases the costs on firm visibility and reputation in capital markets. Overall, these findings suggest that peer firm disclosure shapes a firm's information environment.

本研究考察了公司披露决策中的同伴效应。同伴效应表明，一个小组的平均行为会影响单个小组成员的行为。与同行效应一致，我发现行业同行所做的披露会诱发公司披露。当公司的战略不确定性较高时，披露中的同伴效应会更加明显，这表明同伴公司的披露减少了因其与行业同伴的互动而产生的外部不确定性，从而提高了管理私人信息的准确性。我还发现，当一家公司对外部融资的依赖性更大时，同业效应会更强，这表明同业公司的信息披露增加了公司在资本市场中的知名度和声誉的成本。全面的，