Why Do Investors Rely on Low-Quality Investment Advice? Experimental Evidence from Social Media Platforms
通过系列实验发现，个人投资者会依赖社交媒体上的低质量投资建议，尤其是负面建议，原因包括缺乏知识和无意识的信息接受，提示监管者需结合知识教育与过程干预。
ABSTRACT We report the results of a series of experiments showing that individual investors rely on low-quality investment advice from social media platforms, especially when the advice is negative. Our results also suggest reasons for investors’ reliance. Some investors believe that they should rely on the advice, suggesting that reliance on low-quality advice is sometimes due to a lack of knowledge about the advice’s predictive value. However, low-quality advice influences investment judgments even among investors who believe they should not and did not rely on the advice. This unintentional reliance on low-quality advice stems from a tendency to automatically accept information when it is initially provided. Prompting investors to consider the credibility of their information sources before they view low-quality advice reduces the advice’s influence. Our findings suggest that regulators interested in reducing investors’ reliance on low-quality advice should augment knowledge-oriented education with process-oriented interventions. Data Availability: Contact the authors. JEL Classifications: D83; D91; G41; M41.