School of Business

Document Type

Article

Abstract

This article studies the relationship between CEOs' social media activity and their insider trading behavior. Drawing on psychological evidence linking online activity to risk-taking, we find that active CEOs on social media exhibit higher risk preferences and engage more in insider trading—particularly in terms of incidence, intensity, and profitability. The effects are primarily driven by insider buys (rather than sells), which are more likely to involve material non-public information, and such opportunistic trades may increase firm reputational risk. Further analysis reveals that certain corporate governance mechanisms, such as blackout policies and compensation structures, help mitigate the negative impact. © 2025 The Author(s). The Journal of Financial Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of The Southern Finance Association and the Southwestern Finance Association.

Publication Title

Journal of Financial Research

Publication Date

2025

ISSN

0270-2592

DOI

10.1111/jfir.70011

Keywords

insider trading, social media, CEOs insider trading behaviors

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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