From disclosure to transparency - Essays on firms' voluntary disclosure in a transforming environment

Gao Fritz, Qi

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URN:	urn:nbn:de:bsz:180-madoc-653794
Document Type:	Doctoral dissertation
Year of publication:	2023
Place of publication:	Mannheim
University:	Universität Mannheim
Evaluator:	Simons, Dirk
Date of oral examination:	22 June 2023
Publication language:	English
Institution:	Business School > ABWL u. Rechnungswesen (Simons 2004-)
Subject:	330 Economics
Classification:	JEL:
Keywords (English):	disclosure , digitalization , blockchain , sustainability , greenhouse gas emissions , labeling
Abstract:	This cumulative thesis is based on three articles. In the first paper, I investigate firms' greenhouse gas emission disclosure strategies. The results show the potential existence of different disclosure equilibria, which implies different disclosure patterns in different industries. I further identify that disclosure mandates may have an adverse effect on firms' abatement incentives and even their total emissions. In the second paper, I propose a model to investigate firms’ signaling decisions on the product level. In the third paper, my coauthors and I investigate the potential and limits of privacy-preserving corporate blockchain applications for information provision. We show that blockchain technology can improve the information environment and outperform traditional institutions. However, we also characterize an adverse mixed-adoption equilibrium in which neither of the two channels realizes its full potential and information provision declines not only for individual firms but also in aggregate.