Mutual Fund Shareholder Letters: Flows, Performance, and Managerial Behavior
研究发现基金股东信函的写作风格影响资金流动，负面语气较少带来更高净流入，但虚假沟通会减少资金；积极风格预测更高特质风险和风格押注，但对未来业绩无一致预测力。
Fund companies regularly send shareholder letters to their investors. We use textual analysis to investigate whether these letters’ writing style influences fund flows and whether it predicts performance and investment styles. Fund investors react to the tone and content of shareholder letters: a less negative tone leads to higher net flows. Thus, fund companies can use shareholder letters as a tactical instrument to influence flows. However, at the same time, a dishonest communication that is not consistent with the fund’s actual performance decreases flows. A positive writing style predicts higher idiosyncratic risk as well as more style bets, whereas there is no consistent predictive power for future performance. This paper was accepted by Victoria Ivashina, finance. Supplemental Material: The internet appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.03417 .