Stock price crash risk research: current trends and future directions

Abstract

Purpose

Understanding and mitigating stock price crash risk is vital for investors and regulators to ensure financial market stability. This study aims to unveil significant research trends and opportunities.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts the bibliometric and systematic review approach to analyse 485 Scopus-indexed articles through citation, keyword co-occurrence, bibliographic coupling, and publication analyses and delve into the depth of crash risk literature.

Findings

This bibliometric review reveals not only a surge in crash risk publications over the last decade but also delineates several emerging thematic threads within this domain. We identify seven distinct themes that have gained prominence in recent literature: bad news hoarding, board characteristics, capital market factors, corporate policies, ownership impact, corporate governance, and external environmental influences on crash risk. This thematic analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the evolving landscape of crash risk research and underscores the multifaceted nature of factors contributing to market instability.

Practical implications

This study makes a substantial contribution by furnishing a thorough examination of existing studies, pinpointing areas where knowledge is lacking, and shedding light on emerging trends and debates within the crash risk literature.

Originality/value

This study identifies current research trajectories and propels future exploration into agency perspectives, audit quality, and corporate disclosures within crash risk literature.

Citation

Srivastava, A., Assaf, R., Pandey, D.K. and Kumar, R. (2024), "Stock price crash risk research: current trends and future directions", Journal of Risk Finance, Vol. 25 No. 5, pp. 723-750. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRF-12-2023-0331