How Can a Firm Suppress Shareholders’ Punitive Reaction to Its Disengagement from a Geopolitically Uncertain Market?

Heightened geopolitical tensions have increased firms’ uncertainty about some geographical markets; in response, firms may announce their disengagement from these markets. Such announcements may lower the firm's future revenue and thus elicit negative reactions from shareholders. The authors theorize that managers can frame announcements to impress shareholders and suppress their punitive reactions. In the context of firms’ announcements of disengagement from Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, the authors show that an announcement's market emphasis (i.e., mentions of product-market activities and stakeholders) is positively related to the shareholders’ reaction. Further, the announcement's social emphasis (i.e., mentions of employees, environment, and community) and a delay in announcing the disengagement weakens the market emphasis's positive association with shareholder reactions. This research highlights that linguistic framing in disengagement announcements can shape shareholders’ reactions to such announcements.