Using retail investor posts on the stock forum from 2008 to 2019, we study the impact of social media on the incidence of company violations. We find that social media promotes company violations, which supports the ‘pressure effect’ rather than the ‘monitoring effect’. This conclusion holds even considering potential endogenous issues. In robustness tests, when alternative sample selection, alternative independent variables and alternative dependent variables are used, the results still show that social media promote company violations. Our study supports cognitive evaluation theory, which proposes that external pressure imposed on managers increases the likelihood of violations.

中文翻译：

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社交媒体是否会限制或促进公司违规行为？

利用 2008 年至 2019 年股票论坛上散户投资者的帖子，我们研究了社交媒体对公司违规事件的影响。我们发现社交媒体助长了公司违规行为，这支持了“压力效应”而不是“监控效应”。即使考虑到潜在的内生性问题，这一结论也成立。在稳健性检验中，当使用替代样本选择、替代自变量和替代因变量时，结果仍然表明社交媒体助长了公司违规行为。我们的研究支持认知评估理论，该理论认为施加在管理者身上的外部压力会增加违规的可能性。