Title
Investor Platform Choice: Herding, Platform Attributes, and Regulations.
Abstract
Online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending, one of the most successful technology-enabled initiatives in the fintech revolution, has drastically changed the way individual investors and borrowers meet and transact. While prior research has found herding among investors at the listing level, such social behavior has been underexplored at a macro, platform level. In this study, we attempt to fill this gap by examining whether subsequent investors follow their predecessors' actions when choosing which platform to invest, and if so, how various platform attributes and regulations moderate herding behavior. We collected a novel data set from leading platforms in a large P2P lending market. Our baseline analysis reveals that herding exists at the platform level. Using a multilevel model, we further identify several interesting moderators: the investor's herding behavior is accentuated by platforms' market share and the cumulative amount funded, but attenuated by their time in operation. Finally, we find that government regulatory events dampen the magnitude of the herding effect, suggesting that more information disclosure and stricter operation standards reduce the value of observational learning. The results from our analysis provide implications for P2P lending investors, platform designers, and policymakers.
Year
DOI
Venue
2018
10.1080/07421222.2018.1440770
JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Keywords
Field
DocType
crowdfunding,fintech,herding,multilevel models,peer-to-peer lending,regulations
Herd behavior,Computer science,Multilevel model,Knowledge management,Herding,Macro,Industrial organization,Market share
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
35
1
0742-1222
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
2
0.37
16
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Yang Jiang145.15
Yi-Chun (Chad) Ho261.08
Xiangbin Yan310016.96
Yong Tan426724.91