Purpose This study aims to examine the association between management tone manipulation and innovation, as well as the moderation effect of knowledge diversity (KD), thereby broadening the organizational consequences of tone manipulation into the transformative arena of innovation. Design/methodology/approach The authors select the sample of Chinese A-share listed companies between 2015 and 2024. The data are analyzed using a conditional fixed-effects negative binomial model. Findings Findings illustrate that management tone manipulation is positively associated with innovation. Specifically, the positive association between management tone manipulation and innovation appears to be weaker when KD is higher. Indicated by the heterogeneity analysis, this association is more pronounced among state-owned enterprises and large firms. These findings remain broadly consistent across robustness tests. Originality/value This paper expands research on management discussion and analysis tone and management tone manipulation by linking textual disclosure to innovation. It clarifies management tone manipulation as a symbolic disclosure mechanism rather than as a knowledge management mechanism itself. It further identifies KD as an important boundary condition.
Peng et al. (Wed,) studied this question.