The Virtual Pivot: Adaptive Investor Relations in the Face of Disruption

ABSTRACT The capacity of firms to communicate effectively with investors during periods of disruption is a critical but understudied dimension of corporate adaptability. The COVID‐19 pandemic offers a rare empirical setting to observe such adaptability: It eliminated in‐person investor events almost overnight, forcing firms to either withdraw from investor engagement or pivot to virtual formats amid extreme uncertainty. Using hand‐collected data on investor relations (IR) events from 2019 to 2024, we examine who adapted to virtual IR, when they adapted, and the capital market consequences of that adaptation. We find that firms with higher digital readiness and more gender‐diverse boards were early and sustained adopters of virtual IR, that the informational benefits of virtual formats are concentrated in periods of heightened uncertainty, and that visibility benefits persist as conditions normalize. The findings imply that disclosure adaptability during a crisis hinges on organizational and digital capabilities built ex ante and suggest that virtual and in‐person formats serve distinct functions as conditions stabilize. Our study has practical implications: CEOs, CFOs, and IR teams may benefit from maintaining virtual IR as a crisis‐ready capability that broadens investor reach and preserves communication during disruption, while continuing to draw on in‐person engagement for richer interactions, credibility assessment, and deeper discussions.