个体特征、社会网络关系与投资者情绪

Individual Characteristics,Social Networks and Investor Sentiment

投资者情绪既会受到投资者个体特征的影响,也会在社会网络中演化并传播扩散。基于对个体投资者在线问卷调查数据,文章分析了投资者个体特征、社会网络关系对其情绪状态及其扩散的影响机制。研究发现,从投资者个体特征看,投资者学历和收入水平、投资经验、家庭资产规模和股票投资比重等变量对其情绪状态呈现正面作用,投资者党员身份则呈现显著负面作用,而年龄与情绪状态呈倒U形关系;从社会网络关系看,较弱或较强社会网络关系的投资者的情绪状态比较平和。从扩散渠道看,社会网络内的群体情绪会影响个体情绪,情绪主要基于社会互动机制、信息机制和资金机制在网络内相互影响,并且在社会网络关系偏弱、信息互动程度偏低的投资者群体中更易传播扩散。文章有助于多维度认识投资者情绪的影响因素和扩散机制,为监管者制定政策、引导并规范个体投资者行为提供参考。

Individual investors are always inevitably in the social network context,and their socialization varies greatly with their respective environment and social background.But at the same time,people will naturally communicate and share information to make up for their lack of information and experience.Investor sentiment will not only be affected by individual characteristics,but also be influenced by social networks,showing convergence during the interaction process.This paper collects individual investor characteristics,social networks,and sentiment state utilizing a network questionnaire,constructs the comprehensive indexes of investor sentiment and social networks,and analyzes the socialized influencing factors and diffusion mechanism of investor sentiment.The empirical results based on the online questionnaire survey data show that:Firstly,the individual characteristics of investors will affect their sentimental state.There is a positive promotion effect of variables such as the education and income,investment experience,household asset size,and stock investment ratio;the CCP membership of investors shows a significant negative effect,and age has an inverted U-shaped effect on their sentiment.Secondly,social network relationships have an inverted U-shaped effect on investor sentiment.Investors with very weak or strong social network relationships have a more peaceful sentimental state.Thirdly,group sentiment within the network will promote individual sentiment,causing investor sentiment to spread within the social network.But sentiment diffusion has significant differences among different types of investors,and the sentiment is more likely to spread among investors with low academic qualifications,not-CCP members,short investment years,and weak social networks.Finally,from the perspective of diffusion channels,the sentiment is mainly diffused in the network based on social interaction mechanisms,information mechanisms,and funding mechanisms.Among them,the social interaction and the breadth of information sources have an inhibitory effect on sentiment diffusion.The wider the source of funds and the higher the cost of funds,the lower the probability of sentiment spreading.These conclusions expand the research scope of investor sentiment in the context of social networks,and help to deeply understand how the sentiment spreads under the influence of individual characteristics and social networks.Also,these conclusions may enlighten stock market regulators to educate individual investors and suppress irrational investment behavior.