No abstract

No abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to systematically profile investors' personality traits to examine if, and how, those traits are associated with phenomena observed in financial markets. In particular, the paper looks at overconfidence and overreaction in an experimental foreign exchange market. Design/methodology/approach -The paper measures the personality of the subjects using the short form of the NEO-PIR instrument, the NEO-FFI developed by Costa and McRae (1992) which is based on Norman's (1963) "Big Five" personality constructs of negative emotion, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness. The paper measures psychological gender using questions developed by Bem (1994). Preference for innovation and risk-taking propensity are measured using instruments developed by Jackson (1976). The paper then examines the behavior of the subject who traded interactively in "real time" in an interactive-simulated foreign exchange market where "price discovery" was instantaneous and pricing decisions were made instantaneously as items of news, determined by the researchers, were released. Findings -The paper demonstrates that personality traits are associated with overconfidence and overreaction in financial markets. The paper presents meta-analysis which facilitates the development of a posteriori theories of how particular traits affect investment; there are important roles for risktaking propensity, negative emotion, extraversion, masculinity, preference for innovation and conscientiousness. Originality/value -A typical behavioral finance paper might find an empirical regularity in prices and, on the basis of such patterns, infer the underlying psychology motivating the behavior of investors. The approach differs from this caricature of the "typical" behavioral finance paper. The paper does not infer the underlying psychology of investors from patterns in prices. Rather, the paper learns about investors by systematically profiling their personality traits. The paper then demonstrates how those traits are associated with the prices generated by the investors the authors study. In focussing on the role of individual personality, the paper refocusses behavioral finance on the individuals who set prices.

No abstract

Cost effective data collection is an important methodological issue for small and medium enterprise (SME) researchers. There is a generally held view that mail surveys are the most efficient means of collecting empirical data, despite the potential difficulties associated with low response rates. To enhance the usefulness of mail surveys, researchers have suggested a variety of strategies aimed at improving response rates. While previous studies have examined the effect on response rates of many of these strategies, their impact on data quality and on the cost effectiveness of data collection is less well understood. This study evaluates four response–inducing strategies (printing the survey instrument on colored paper, telephone pre–notification, payment of a monetary incentive, and a follow–up mailing) in terms of their effect on data quality, response rates, and cost effectiveness for a population of SMEs.