Impact of investors' status on their evaluation of positive and negative, and past and future information

This paper examines the effect of investors' status (current and prospective) on their evaluation of information varying in valence (negative and positive) and temporality (past and future). Master of Business Administration graduates, proxying for current or prospective investors, rated the relevance of negative, positive, past, and future Management Discussion and Analysis information. Investors' relevance ratings of information resulted in the following ranking (from highest to lowest): negative-future, negative-past, positive-future, and positive-past information. Furthermore, prospective investors (relative to current) rated positive and future information as more relevant and negative information as less relevant. Implications for effective disclosure strategies and policies are discussed.