ABSTRACT

In this research, we examine the pivotal effects of search volume on technology firms’ financial performance and add incremental knowledge on the importance of online search data. We use panel data with ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis covering a fixed period to provide insights into the impact of the volume of online search queries of the top five U.S. technology firms’ brand names and products on their financial performance. Through a longitudinal study of the five most prominent technology firms in the United States, this research provides evidence that online search volume of a firm’s brand names is negatively related to firms’ performance (return on equity (ROE), return on assets (ROA), and Tobin’s Q), while search volume for a firm’s major products’ names is positively associated with ROE and ROA. Informed by accessibility-diagnosticity theory and construal level theory, we believe our findings hold because the negativity effect of online information is more saliently activated by higher-level construals (e.g., corporate brand information) than lower-level construals (e.g., product information). The findings provide new insights on search engine data interpretation. The theoretical and managerial contributions of these results are also discussed.

摘要

在这项研究中，我们研究了搜索量对科技公司财务业绩的关键影响，并增加了有关在线搜索数据重要性的知识。我们使用覆盖固定时期的普通最小二乘 (OLS) 回归分析面板数据，深入了解美国前五名科技公司品牌和产品的在线搜索查询量对其财务业绩的影响。通过对美国五家最著名的科技公司的纵向研究，该研究提供的证据表明，公司品牌的在线搜索量与公司业绩（股本回报率 (ROE)、资产回报率 (ROA)和托宾的 Q)，而公司主要产品名称的搜索量与 ROE 和 ROA 呈正相关。受可访问性诊断理论和解释水平理论的启发，我们相信我们的发现是成立的，因为在线信息的负面效应比低级别解释（例如产品信息）更能被更高级别的解释（例如，企业品牌信息）激活. 研究结果为搜索引擎数据解释提供了新的见解。还讨论了这些结果的理论和管理贡献。