2009 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America

and investor behaviors explain very little of the variance in investor preferences for
investing information types, qualities, and sources. Thus no meaningful conclusions can
be made to answer RQ1 or RQ 2.
RQ 3 addressed the association between the seven investing information content
types with the nine sources of investing information. Regressions to address this question
were all significant, and seven of the nine regressions had R 2 values were larger than .1
(see Table 2). The types of content investors seek account for 22% of the variance in
seeking information from an annual report (F(13, 279) = 6.035, p < .01); 17% of the
variance in seeking information from the news media (F(13, 279) = 4.428, p < .01); 15%
of the variance in seeking information from an analyst report (F(13, 279) = 3.871, p <
.01); and 14% of the variance in seeking information from a conference call (F(13, 279)
= 3.552, p < .01) and a news release (F(13, 279) = 3.612, p < .01). Significant regression
equations were also found when associating types of content with an annual meeting
(F(13, 278) = 3.126, p < .01), R 2 = .128, and with corporate advertising (F(13, 277) =
2.975, p < .01), R 2 = .123.
Examination of part correlations provides some interesting answers to this
research question. Seeking information about a company’s management is the largest
portion (6.8%) of the 21.9% variance explaining when investors will seek information
from annual reports; 4.3% of the 14.2% variance explaining when investors seek
information from conference calls, and 6% of the 12.8% variance explaining their
seeking information from annual meetings. Investors seeking information about a
company’s products is more associated with their seeking information from news releases
(2% of 14.4% variance explained) and the news media (1.8% of the 17.1% variance
explained). However, projected performance is the variable explaining the largest part
(2.8%) of the total variance explaining when investors seek out the news media as a
source of investing information. Projected performance also appears to be the largest
predictor (6.7% of the 15.3% variance explained) of investors seeking analyst reports.
Seeking information regarding a company’s social responsibility accounts for most of the
variance (2.9% of the 12.3%) explaining considering information from advertising.
Investors’ concern with a company’s projected performance is more associated with their
seeking information from analysts (6.7% of the 15.3% variance explained in the
equation).
>>Insert Table 2 here