Rich Men’s Hobby or Question of Personality: Who Considers Collectibles as Alternative Investment?

16 Pages Posted: 24 Jul 2020

See all articles by Jens Kleine

Jens Kleine

SDA Bocconi; University of Applied Sciences, Munich; Steinbeis University Berlin

Thomas Peschke

CFIN – Research Center For Financial Services

Niklas Wagner

Passau University

Date Written: August 31, 2019

Abstract

Collecting is an inherent economic behavior that is neither characterized as pure consumption nor investment activity, while at the same time subject to various psychological aspects. Based on a unique survey sample of collectors and non-collectors, we study the Big Five personality traits of collectors who consider their activity as being linked to valid investment motives. Our results document that investor collectors are to about 70 percent represented by males and exhibit further demographics that include above average education, income and available financial assets, whereas age does not show a consistent pattern. Controlling for the dominating demographics, namely gender and income, we approach the underlying personality traits that relate to the possession of collectibles as a form of alternative investment. We find that high Openness and low Agreeableness significantly characterize investor collectors. They are open to new experience but distinct in the way they do business for potential profit.

Keywords: collectibles; alternative investments; Big Five model; personality traits; Agreeableness; Openness

JEL Classification: D12, G41

Suggested Citation

Kleine, Jens and Kleine, Jens and Peschke, Thomas and Wagner, Niklas F., Rich Men’s Hobby or Question of Personality: Who Considers Collectibles as Alternative Investment? (August 31, 2019). Finance Research Letters, Vol. 35, 2020, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3638337

Jens Kleine

SDA Bocconi ( email )

Via Bocconi 8
Milan, Milan 20136
Italy

University of Applied Sciences, Munich ( email )

Am Stadtpark 20
Munich, 81243
Germany

Steinbeis University Berlin ( email )

Berlin
Germany

Thomas Peschke

CFIN – Research Center For Financial Services ( email )

Rumfordstr. 42
Munich, Bavaria 80469
Germany

Niklas F. Wagner (Contact Author)

Passau University ( email )

Innstrasse 27
Passau, 94030
Germany

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