Mainland Chinese investor attention influences on international markets: The impact of Game of Hunting on the stock returns of head-hunting companies in Hong Kong

Hejie Zhang and Hongzhong Fan

Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, 2025, vol. 93, issue C

Abstract: This study leverages the introduction of the TV series Game of Hunting as a quasi-natural experiment to explore the influence of investor attention on international stock returns. Our findings reveal that the introduction of the TV series increased attention and shareholdings among retail investors from China's mainland in head-hunting companies listed on the Hong Kong stock market. This surge in attention translated into abnormal returns of at least 10.1 % within four market days following the TV series' debut. Notably, this impact was more pronounced for stocks that had previously received less attention from mainland Chinese investors or possessed more easily understandable information. Conversely, the TV series' introduction did not significantly affect the trading activity of institutional investors. The international impact of investor attention revealed in our study surpasses the domestic impact documented in the existing literature. Furthermore, this global impact is predominantly driven by retail investors, whose attention spans are limited compared to institutional investors.

Keywords: Investor attention; Stock returns; Difference-in-differences; The event-study approach; Synthetic difference-in-differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G12 G14 G41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pacfin:v:93:y:2025:i:c:s0927538x25002239

DOI: 10.1016/j.pacfin.2025.102886

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