Pre-Decisional Behavior as Indicator for Investor’s Confidence and Attention

59 Pages Posted: 22 Apr 2013 Last revised: 24 Jun 2014

See all articles by Torsten Walther

Torsten Walther

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) - Faculty of Business Administration (Munich School of Management)

Date Written: June 24, 2014

Abstract

Financial service companies can access a huge amount of data on customer behavior, in particular with respect to the information search process prior to an investment decision. With the help of an experiment, we show that investors’ pre-decisional behavior is linked to their level of confidence about the investment decision. We find that an increasing number of transitions between different information can serve as a signal for low confidence about the decision. We argue that this finding can help financial institutions when trying to offer tailored financial advice. Finally, we extend previous studies that were not able to observe the pre-decisional process by providing direct evidence on attention paid to different fund attributes.

Keywords: Individual Investors, Financial Advice, Pre-Decisional Behavior, Confidence, Mouselab

JEL Classification: G11, D81, D83

Suggested Citation

Walther, Torsten, Pre-Decisional Behavior as Indicator for Investor’s Confidence and Attention (June 24, 2014). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2254770 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2254770

Torsten Walther (Contact Author)

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) - Faculty of Business Administration (Munich School of Management) ( email )

Schackstraße 4
Munich, 80539
Germany

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