No abstract

As part of their digital transformation, firms increasingly appoint Chief Digital Officers (CDOs). Existing research suggests that CDOs are appointed to drive and coordinate digital transformation activities and communicate digital transformation-related topics to stakeholders. However, the specific role of the CDO as a mediator between a firm and its external stakeholders, such as investors, remains unclear. Relying on signaling theory, we investigate whether CDO presence impacts digital transformation-related signaling in firms external communication tools. Indeed, our results show a strong positive association between CDO presence and the volume of digital transformation-related signals. Therefore, it can be assumed that CDO presence has the potential to contribute to reducing digital transformation-related information asymmetries between firms and external stakeholders. However, since our results show that less regulated communication tools are more likely to be used for digital transformation-related signaling than highly regulated ones, the reliability of such signals remains questionable.

The ongoing digital transformation shapes the world of information discovery and dissemination for investment decisions. Social investment platforms offer the possibility for non-professionals to publish financial analyst reports on company development and earnings forecast and give investment recommendations similar to those provided by traditional sell-side analysts. This phenomenon of "crowd analyst reports" has been found to provide an adequate alternative for non-professional investors. In this study, we examine the informational value of these crowd analyst reports regarding their timeliness in publishing and their originality as for content and opinion. Our findings suggest that crowd analysts strongly rely on previously published institutional reports. Therefore, crowd analysts do not pose a threat to institutional analysts at this time, however, they provide a more accessible information basis and improve decision-making for individual investors.