TY - JOUR
T1 - The Role of Corporate Culture in Bad Times
T2 - Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic
AU - Li, Kai
AU - Liu, Xing
AU - Mai, Feng
AU - Zhang, Tengfei
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
©
PY - 2021/11/14
Y1 - 2021/11/14
N2 - After fitting a topic model to 40,927 COVID-19-related paragraphs in 3,581 earnings calls over the period Jan. 22-Apr. 30, 2020, we obtain firm-level measures of exposure and response related to COVID-19 for 2,894 U.S. firms. We show that despite the large negative impact of COVID-19 on their operations, firms with a strong corporate culture outperform their peers without a strong culture. Moreover, these firms are more likely to support their community, embrace digital transformation, and develop new products than those peers. We conclude that corporate culture is an intangible asset designed to meet unforeseen contingencies as they arise.
AB - After fitting a topic model to 40,927 COVID-19-related paragraphs in 3,581 earnings calls over the period Jan. 22-Apr. 30, 2020, we obtain firm-level measures of exposure and response related to COVID-19 for 2,894 U.S. firms. We show that despite the large negative impact of COVID-19 on their operations, firms with a strong corporate culture outperform their peers without a strong culture. Moreover, these firms are more likely to support their community, embrace digital transformation, and develop new products than those peers. We conclude that corporate culture is an intangible asset designed to meet unforeseen contingencies as they arise.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85108110139&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85108110139&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0022109021000326
DO - 10.1017/S0022109021000326
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85108110139
SN - 0022-1090
VL - 56
SP - 2545
EP - 2583
JO - Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis
JF - Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis
IS - 7
ER -