Investor relations officers (IROs) say that one of the biggest challenges of their work is proving to management that investor relations contributes value to the organization. One might consider it obvious that good investor relations is good for an organization; however, quantifying such "goodness" can be a demanding task for an IRO or for an investor relations scholar. This study provides an initial step in evaluating investor relations' contribution to an organization's bottom line.

This study first provides a theoretical overview of suggestions in the literature of the contribution of investor relations to the organizational bottom line. Secondly, this theoretical overview serves as a starting point for an empirical investigation organized as a Delphi panel. Investor relations officers from corporations and investor relations agencies were recruited to participate in the panel and share their practical insights in response to the theoretically identified indicators of investor relations value.

In sum, this study first identifies what academic research considers the contribution of investor relations and, secondly, evaluates these academic ideas by experienced investor relations practitioners. The evaluations by individual practitioners are merged into one consensus answer, which becomes a snapshot of today's view of both academics and IROs on how investor relations contributes to the organizational bottom line.