No. 164: Working from Home and Analyst Forecasts: Evidence from Brokerage Office Crowdedness

Jahr: 2024
Typ: Working Paper

Abstract

We study whether and how working from home (WFH) affects sell-side analysts‘ forecasts. We construct a granular and high-frequency measure of analysts‘ exposure to WFH at the broker-office level. Holding the complexity of the forecasting task constant, we find that, on average, analysts with greater exposure to WFH issue more timely and optimistic forecasts. This effect amplifies for analysts with longer commuting hours. We further document heterogeneity in the effect of WFH on team forecasts, suggesting that WFH has a stronger negative effect on forecast accuracy when it cuts off face-to-face communication in teams and that a broker’s IT infrastructure can mitigate this effect. Collectively, these results shed light on the role of the working environment on analysts‘ cognitive task performance.

Beteiligte Institutionen

Die Hauptstandorte vom TRR 266 sind die Universität Paderborn (Sprecherhochschule), die HU Berlin und die Universität Mannheim. Alle drei Standorte sind seit vielen Jahren Zentren für Rechnungswesen- und Steuerforschung. Hinzu kommen Wissenschaftler der LMU München, der Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt, der Universität zu Köln und der Leibniz Universität Hannover, die die gleiche Forschungsagenda verfolgen.

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