Does investor personality moderate the relationship between information sources and trading behavior? Evidence from Chinese stock market

2017 ◽  
Vol 43 (5) ◽  
pp. 545-566 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Zubair Tauni ◽  
Zia-ur-Rehman Rao ◽  
Hong-Xing Fang ◽  
Minghao Gao

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the key sources of information, namely, financial advice, word-of-mouth communication and specialized press, on trading behavior of Chinese stock investors. The study also analyzed if the association between the key sources of information and trading behavior is influenced by investor personality. Design/methodology/approach The authors adopted the Big Five personality framework and examined the survey results of individual stock investors (n=541) in China. Personality traits of investors were measured by the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (Costa and McCrae, 1989). The authors performed probit regression analysis to evaluate the moderating influence of investor personality traits on the association between sources of information and stock trading behavior. Findings The results of the study confirm the previous findings that the key sources of information used by investors as a foundation of their financial choices have a significant influence on their trading behavior. The study also provides empirical evidence that investor personality traits moderate the relationship between the key sources of information and trading behavior. Financial advisors tend to increase the frequency of trading in investors with openness, extraversion, neuroticism and agreeableness personality traits, and tend to decrease the intensity of trading in investors with conscientiousness trait. On the other hand, financial information acquired from word-of-mouth communication is more likely to enhance trading frequency in extraverted and agreeable investors, and is more likely to reduce trading frequency in investors with openness, conscientiousness and neuroticism traits. Finally, the use of specialized press leads to more adjustment in portfolios of the investors with openness and conscientiousness traits than those with other personality traits. An alternative mediated model was not supported. Originality/value This research contributes to information search literature and behavioral finance literature and provides empirical evidence that the psychological characteristics of investors are significant predictors of the variations in information-trading link. The study offers new theoretical insights of investors’ behavior due to the characteristics of Chinese stock market which are unique from other stock markets in the world. To the authors’ best knowledge, no previous study has been conducted so far in Chinese stock market to explore variations with regards to the impact of the key sources of information on trading behavior by the Big Five investor personality and this paper seeks to fill this gap.

2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Zubair Tauni ◽  
Hong Xing Fang ◽  
Amjad Iqbal

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of sources of information on trading behavior by analyzing the influence of investor personality in Chinese futures market. Design/methodology/approach The authors adopted the Big Five personality framework and examined the survey results of individual investors (n = 333) in Chinese futures market. Personality traits of futures investors were measured by the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (Costa and McCrae, 1989) which is a shortened version of revised NEO personality inventory of the Big Five model (Costa and McCrae, 1992). Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess the fitness of model. Structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the moderating influence of investor personality traits on the association between source of information and trading behavior. Findings The results confirm the previous findings that the sources of information used by investors as a foundation of their financial choices have a significant impact on trading frequency. The authors also provide an empirical evidence that investor personality traits moderate the relationship between sources of information and trading behavior. Financial advice from professionals is likely to increase trading frequency in investors with neuroticism and openness personality traits, and to reduce trading frequency in conscientious and extravert investors. Similarly, financial information acquired via word-of-mouth communication results in more trading in extravert and agreeable investors. Finally, information acquisition from specialized press causes more adjustment of conscientious investors’ portfolios. Theoretical explanations, implications and recommendations for future research are discussed. Originality/value This study combines information search and behavioral finance literature to demonstrate that the impact of various sources of market information on asset allocation decisions is influenced by investor personality. No previous study has been conducted yet to explain variations in the impact of sources of information on trading behavior by the Big Five personality traits and this paper seeks to fill this gap in Chinese futures market.


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 450-477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Zubair Tauni ◽  
Zia-ur-Rehman Rao ◽  
Hongxing Fang ◽  
Sultan Sikandar Mirza ◽  
Zulfiqar Ali Memon ◽  
...  

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the frequency of information acquisition on the frequency of stock trading. The authors also examined if the Big Five personality traits of investor influence the association between information acquisition and stock trading behavior. Design/methodology/approach The authors adopted NEO Five-Factor Inventory (Costa and McCrae, 1989) inventory to measure the Big Five personality traits of investors and examined the data collected from 541 individual investors of the Chinese stock market. To overcome the potential endogeneity bias, the authors followed two-stage least square method for estimating endogenous covariate by employing instrumental variable analysis. The authors performed probit regression to evaluate the moderating influence of investor personality traits on the association between information acquisition and stock trading behavior. The authors also performed several other tests to check the robustness of the key findings. Findings This research confirmed the previous findings that the more frequently investors acquire information, the more often they trade in stocks. Moreover, the authors added to the existing literature by providing empirical evidence that the Big Five personality traits moderate the relationship of information acquisition with stock trading behavior. Information acquisition tends to increase stock trading frequency in investors with conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness traits. On the other hand, it also has the tendency to decrease the intensity of stock trading in investors with openness and neuroticism traits. Research limitations/implications The theoretical model in this study seeks to explain that the psychological factor, namely, investor personality, influences the way an investor interprets signals from information which in turn influences the investor decision to trade in securities. This research suggests that psychological characteristics of investors can be of relevance for policy makers in their attempts to improve their business in the financial services industry. Originality/value This study combines both information search literature and behavioral finance literature to investigate whether or not the information acquisition that relates to investors’ asset allocation decisions is influenced by investor personality. The study offers new theoretical insights into investors’ behavior due to the characteristics of the Chinese stock market which are uniquely different from other stock markets in the world. No previous study has been conducted so far in the Chinese stock market to explore variations in the impact of investors’ information acquisition on their stock trading by the Big Five personality and this paper strives to fill this research gap.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dejun Xie ◽  
Yu Cui ◽  
Yujian Liu

PurposeThe focus of the current research is to examine whether mixed-frequency investor sentiment affects stock volatility in the China A-shares stock market.Design/methodology/approachMixed-frequency sampling models are employed to find the relationship between stock market volatility and mixed-frequency investor sentiment. Principal analysis and MIDAS-GARCH model are used to calibrate the impact of investor sentiment on the large-horizon components of volatility of Shanghai composite stocks.FindingsThe results show that the volatility in Chinese stock market is positively influenced by B–W investor sentiment index, when the sentiment index encompasses weighted mixed frequencies with different horizons. In particular, the impact of mixed-frequency investor sentiment is most significantly on the large-horizon components of volatility. Moreover, it is demonstrated that mixed-frequency sampling model has better explanatory powers than exogenous regression models when accounting for the relationship between investor sentiment and stock volatility.Practical implicationsGiven the various unique features of Chinese stock market and its importance as the major representative of world emerging markets, the findings of the current paper are of particularly scholarly and practical significance by shedding lights to the applicableness GARCH-MIDAS in the focused frontiers.Originality/valueA more accurate and insightful understanding of volatility has always been one of the core scholarly pursuits since the influential structural time series modeling of Engle (1982) and the seminal work of Engle and Rangel (2008) attempting to accommodate macroeconomic factors into volatility models. However, the studies in this regard are so far relatively scarce with mixed conclusions. The current study fills such gaps with improved MIDAS-GARCH approach and new evidence from Shanghai A-share market.


2018 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 947-968 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Zubair Tauni ◽  
Muhammad Ansar Majeed ◽  
Sultan Sikandar Mirza ◽  
Salman Yousaf ◽  
Khalil Jebran

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of financial advice on investor trading behavior by analyzing the influence of advisor personality. Design/methodology/approach The study utilized the Big Five personality framework from Costa and McCrae (1992) to measure personality traits of advisors and examined the data collected from 314 stock investor–advisor dyads. Personality traits of advisors were measured by the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (Costa and McCrae, 1989). Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess the fitness of the Big Five model. We followed two-stage least square method for estimating endogenous covariate by employing instrumental variable analysis. Probit model was used to evaluate the moderating influence of advisor personality traits on the association between the usage of financial advice and trading behavior. Findings The authors found that financial advice positively impacts investors’ stock trading frequency. The authors also provide empirical evidence that financial advice is more likely to increase trading frequency when advisor personality tends to be openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness. On the other hand, information acquired from financial advisors causes fewer adjustments in investors’ portfolios when the personality of advisors is likely to be extraverted and neurotic. Research limitations/implications The theoretical model in our study seeks to explain that a psychological factor, namely, advisor personality, influences the way an investor interprets information signals from financial advice, which, in turn, influences the investor’s decision to trade in securities. Practical implications This research suggests that characteristics of advisors other than those of investors can be of relevance for policy makers in their attempts to improve their business in the financial services industry. Originality/value Survey-based studies in finance are lacking. This study adds to the existing literature of behavioral finance that accounts for the observed variations in investors’ financial decision making explained by psychological factors. No previous study has been conducted so far exploring variations in the impact of financial advice on investors’ stock trading behavior by the Big Five advisor personality, and this paper strives to fill this research gap in Chinese stock market.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aqsa Ameer ◽  
Farah Naz ◽  
Bushra Gul Taj ◽  
Iqra Ameer

Purpose The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of conscientiousness and extraversion personality traits on project success. The relationship is mediated by affective professional commitment, whilst the relationship between personality traits and project success is moderated by organizational project management maturity. Design/methodology/approach The deductive approach is used to achieve the objectives of this study. Data were collected through a purposive sampling technique from 250 respondents with the help of questionnaires from information technology sectors. The structural equation modelling (SEM) in partial least squares-SEM and SPSS is used to analyse the data and to examine the hypothesis. Findings The outcomes demonstrate the partial mediating impact of affective professional commitment between the relationship of conscientiousness and extraversion personalities with project success. Additionally, it proves the moderating effects of project management maturity between the relationship of conscientiousness and extraversion personalities with project success. Practical implications This study reflects that employee personality appears to be a reliable indicator of how an employee is faithful to his profession. This faithfulness or duty decides the employee’s execution in terms of offering a successful project. Thus, achieving employee commitment needs to be done by completing the project successfully by the organizations in the presence of project management maturity systems. Originality/value It is the first study of its kind to provide experimental proof of the impact of a manager’s personality traits on project success in the presence of affective professional commitment (mediator) and organizational project management maturity (moderator).


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 710-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Forte ◽  
Jon Tucker ◽  
Gaetano Matonti ◽  
Giuseppe Nicolò

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between intellectual capital (IC), measured in terms of the market to book (MTB) ratio, and potential key determinants of IC value such as intangible assets (IA) and a range of other factors. Design/methodology/approach The study is conducted for a sample of 140 Italian corporations over the period 2009-2013. Applying a holistic market-based approach, the relationship between IC value and selected determinants from the extant literature is tested. Five hypotheses are tested using a pooled OLS regression model, while controlling for time. ROE is employed as a useful firm profitability indicator from the perspective of an equity investor. Moreover, four robustness tests are undertaken. Findings The results show that IA, profitability, leverage, industry type, auditor type, and family ownership positively affect IC value, whereas SIZE and AGE negatively affect IC value. Moreover, the findings of the robustness tests suggest that all firms, and not just knowledge-intensive business service industry firms, manage knowledge. Research limitations/implications The validity of the findings is limited to the Italian context, as the study focuses on a sample of companies listed on the Milan Stock Exchange, all of which prepare their individual financial statements according to IFRS. Further limitations are related to the use of market value in the short term, as it is influenced by market volatility. The study may allow academic researchers to investigate the impact of other non-accounting sources of information on market value within a multidisciplinary perspective. Practical implications This paper also has implications for managers and practitioners. The findings suggest that managers should not take for granted that firm growth (an increase in SIZE) alone will lead to an increase in IC value, in the absence of a consistent IC-oriented investment strategy. Managers should also avoid smoothing their IC investment as the company grows, in order to maintain a stable MTB ratio. Further, standard setters should seek to explore better means of disclosing non-accounting information relating to IC value. Originality/value This paper contributes to the IC literature as it is the first study which applies the market capitalization approach to analyze IC value determinants in the Italian context, within the framework of IFRS. The findings reveal some interesting relationships between the MTB ratio and recognized intangible investments, which are found to be insignificant in previous studies, confirming that, through the holistic effect, the MTB ratio may be a good proxy for IC.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongdong Chen

PurposeThis study disentangles the investor-base effect and the information effect of investor attention. The former leads to a larger investor base and higher stock returns, while the latter facilitates the dissemination of information among investors and impacts informational trading.Design/methodology/approachUsing positive volume shocks as a proxy for increased investor attention, this study evaluates the impacts of the investor-base effect and the information effect of investor attention on market correction following extreme daily returns in the US stock market from 1966 to 2018.FindingsThis study finds that the investor-base effect increases subsequent returns of both daily winner and daily loser stocks. The information effect leads to economically less significant return reversals for both the daily winner and daily loser stocks. These two effects tend to have economically more significant impacts on the daily loser stocks. The economic significance of these two effects is also related to firm size and the state of the stock market.Originality/valueThis study is the first to disentangle the investor-base effect and the information effect of increased investor attention. The evidence that the information effect facilitates the dissemination of new information and impacts stock returns contributes to the strand of studies on the impact of investor attention on market efficiency. This evidence also contributes to the strand of studies analyzing the impact of informational trading on stock returns. In addition, this study provides evidence for market overreaction and the subsequent correction. The results for up and down markets contribute to the literature on the investors' trading behavior.


2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 600-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liu Liu Kong ◽  
Min Bai ◽  
Peiming Wang

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the framework of Prospect Theory and Mental Accounting proposed by Grinblatt and Han (2005) can be applied to analyzing the relationship between the disposition effect and momentum in the Chinese stock market. Design/methodology/approach – The paper applies the methodology proposed by Grinblatt and Han (2005). Findings – Using firm-level data, with a sample period from January 1998 to June 2013, the authors find evidence that the momentum effect in the Chinese stock market is not driven by the disposition effect, contradicting the findings of Grinblatt and Han (2005) concerning the US stock market. The discrepancies in the findings between the Chinese and US stock markets are robust and independent of sample periods. Research limitations/implications – The findings suggest that Grinblatt and Han’s model may not be applicable to the Chinese stock market. This is possibly because of the regulatory differences between the two stock markets and cross-national variation in investor behavior; in particular, the short-selling prohibition in the Chinese stock market and greater reference point adaptation to unrealized gains/losses among Chinese compared to Americans. Originality/value – This study provides evidence of the inapplicability of Grinblatt and Han’s model for the Chinese stock market, and shows the differences in the relationship between disposition effect and momentum between the Chinese and US stock markets.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoming Xu ◽  
Vikash Ramiah ◽  
Imad Moosa ◽  
Sinclair Davidson

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to: first, test if information-adjusted noise model (IANM) can be applied in China; second, quantify noise trader risk, overreaction, underreaction and information pricing errors in that market; and third, explain the relationship between noise trader risk and return. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use a behavioural asset pricing model (BAPM), CAPM, the information-adjusted noise model and model proposed by Ramiah and Davidson (2010). Findings – The findings show that noise traders are active 99.7 per cent of the time on the Shenzhen A-share market. Furthermore, our results suggest that the Shenzhen market overreacts 41 per cent of the time, underreacts 18 per cent of the time and information pricing errors occur 40 per cent of the time. Originality/value – Various methods have been applied to the Chinese stock market in an effort to measure noise trading activities and all of them failed to account for information arrival. Our study uses a superior and alternative model to detect noise trader risk, overreaction and underreaction in China.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Wei-Shan Hu ◽  
Yen-Hsien Lee ◽  
Ying-Chuang Chen

This investigation studies the impact of mutual fund herding on the returns achieved by contrarian strategy from 1990 to 2015 in the Chinese stock market. The relationship between the profit gained by the contrarian strategy and the macroeconomic environment is also examined. First, the returns of the contrarian strategy in China’s stock market are found to be significant. Second, most loser stocks with a high degree of mutual fund herding outperform loser stocks with a low degree of mutual fund herding, revealing that the profitability of an investment portfolio depends on the degree of mutual fund herding. Third, investors should buy loser stocks with a high degree of herding and sell winner stocks with a low degree of herding during a two-year formation period, over which zero-cost contrarian strategies yield the significantly highest return. Finally, the payoff of contrarian strategies is positively related to the herding effect and negatively related to macroeconomic variables.


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