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Chinese Journal of Management Science ›› 2026, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (3): 15-24.doi: 10.16381/j.cnki.issn1003-207x.2023.2215

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Research on the Influence of Minority Shareholders′ Network Expression on Corporate Financialization

Gaofeng Zou1, Guangqun Li2, Xiong Xiong1, Boyang Cui2()   

  1. 1.Laboratory of Computation and Analytics of Complex Management Systems,Tianjin University,Tianjin 300072,China
    2.Department of Management and Economy,Tianjin University,Tianjin 300072,China
  • Received:2023-12-28 Revised:2024-07-06 Online:2026-03-25 Published:2026-03-06
  • Contact: Boyang Cui E-mail:cby_0528@tju.edu.cn

Abstract:

With the continuous maturation of capital markets, financialization has become a significant characteristic of modern corporate operations. The widespread use of the internet and social media has increasingly highlighted the role of small and medium-sized shareholders' online expressions in corporate financialization. As the volume of online posts by these shareholders increases, investor sentiment is transmitted to company management through online expressions, thereby exerting pressure on the management from small and medium-sized shareholders. Although the increase in financial asset investments is accompanied by higher risks, it can effectively enhance the short-term excess returns of enterprises. The pressure from small and medium-sized shareholders makes the management more inclined to allocate financial assets, thereby exacerbating corporate financialization.

To verify the above hypothesis, non-financial firms listed on the A-share market from 2008 to 2022 are used as samples and empirically examines the impact of small and medium-sized shareholders' online expressions on corporate financialization using posting data from stock forums. Most Chinese companies completed the split-share structure reform at the beginning of 2007, and since 2008, the volume of posts on stock forums has stabilized, gradually highlighting its impact on the stock market. Therefore, the sample of stocks in this paper includes all A-share listed companies, covering the period from 2008 to 2022. Additionally, the online expressions of small and medium-sized shareholders are measured using data on posts, comments, and readings from the Eastmoney stock forum available on the China Research Data Service Platform (CNRDS). Financial data, executive characteristics, board data, and shareholder holding data are all sourced from the CNRDS database. News data and analyst report data come from the China Stock Market & Accounting Research (CSMAR) database, while market data for the stock market is obtained from the Wind database.

It is found that online expressions convey pressure to corporate management by small and medium-sized shareholders, incentivizing managers to reallocate resources toward financial assets that are more likely to generate short-term excess returns, thereby intensifying the degree of corporate financialization. Furthermore, this positive relationship between online expressions and corporate financialization is more pronounced under greater performance pressure, competitive pressure, and weaker external regulation. The impact of small and medium-sized shareholders' online expressions on corporate financialization is discussed from the perspective of social media's role in corporate governance, which has significant positive implications for the regulation of social media public opinion and the healthy development of corporate financialization.

Key words: small and medium-sized shareholders, corporate financialization, corporate governance, pressure hypothesis

CLC Number: