ITR: Collaborative Research:Virtual Investing-Related Communities and Online Investing: A Study of Adoption, Usage, and Performance and Policy Implications

本研究将调查在线投资和虚拟投资相关社区（虚拟投资社区），着眼于两个广泛的研究问题：(a)信息如何在虚拟投资社区内部和之间产生、讨论和传播，以及此类活动如何影响市场效率？(b)经济、社会和心理因素如何共同影响投资者的采纳、参与和满意度？这项研究将涉及处理来自10个主要风险投资公司的40只股票的300多万条信息。将对信息进行分析和分类，并对有关扩散和市场影响的各种假设进行测试。深入访谈和大规模的在线投资者调查将验证投资者满意度的综合模型。本研究对信息处理与传播、谣言传播、信息技术对市场的影响、个人/群体行为等方面的文献进行了研究，这些文献位于信息系统、心理学、市场营销和经济学的交叉领域。研究结果将为设计能够实时检测令人担忧的信息流类型的软件工具奠定基础。从监管的角度来看，了解社会和心理偏见以及扭曲的影响将有助于制定监管措施，以抵消其负面影响。

This study will investigate online investing and virtual investing-related communities (VICs)looking at two broad research issues: (a) How is information generated, discussed, and diffused within and across VICs, and how do such activities impact market efficiency? and (b) How do economic, social and psychological influences together impact investor adoption, participation, and satisfaction? The study will involve processing over three million messages covering 40 stocks from 10 major VICs. The information will be parsed and categorized, and various hypotheses related to diffusion and market impacts will be tested. In-depth interviews and a large-scale survey of online investors will validate a comprehensive model of investor satisfaction. This research contributes to the information processing and diffusion, rumor propagation, impact of IT on markets, and individual/group behavior literatures that lie at the intersection of information systems, psychology, marketing, and economics. The research results will lay the foundation for the design of software tools that can detect worrisome types of information flow in real-time. From a regulatory perspective, an understanding of social and psychological biases and distorting influences will support the design of regulatory measures that counter their negative impacts.