The One-Man Show: The Effect of Joint Decision-Making on Investor Overconfidence

Dominik M Piehlmaier, J Jeffrey Inman, Andrew T Stephen and Andrew T Stephen

Journal of Consumer Research, 2023, vol. 50, issue 2, 426-446

Abstract: This study examines the impact of shared decision-making on investor overconfidence. Data from 2,000 investors, 6,394 consumers, and 657 experimental participants shed light on whether consumers who engage in joint financial decision-making are less affected by investor overconfidence than those who decide on their own. The findings show that investors who jointly decide are substantially less overconfident. However, family- or friend-inclined interactions are more effective in reducing overconfidence than relying on a financial advisor. The current research theoretically argues and empirically shows that shared metaknowledge drives this diminishing effect by highlighting unknown aspects of a financial decision. Compared to providing investors with solutions, problem reformulation, validation, or legitimation, only metaknowledge consistently decreases overconfidence in joint financial decision-making. It is argued that the process of highlighting unknowns can explain why interactions with family and friends have a more pronounced impact on investor overconfidence than consulting a professional advisor. The study provides a feasible debiasing tool to consumers, financial institutions, and other financial service providers to decrease overconfidence by emphasizing unknown aspects of an investment toward improving the quality of a consumer’s financial decisions under uncertainty.

Keywords: overconfidence; metaknowledge; joint decision-making; financial advice; salience of the unknown (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:jconrs:v:50:y:2023:i:2:p:426-446.

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