Investment decisions regarding internet financial products considering network externalities: a mixed-method approach

Weiyao Kang and Mengxi Yang

Journal of Electronic Business & Digital Economics, 2023, vol. 2, issue 1, 110-138

Abstract: Purpose - This study aims to provide an in-depth understanding of investors’ cognition and decision-making process with regard to internet financial products. The objective is to effectively guide users’ rational investments. Design/methodology/approach - First, based on grounded theory, this study develops a tool for measuring users’ perceived value (PV) of internet financial products via in-depth interviews. Then, after comprehensively considering users’ environmental, individual and psychological characteristics, this study proposes a theoretical model of internet financial product investment decisions based on the PV of users. Finally, an empirical study is conducted on 693 valid sample data from e-commerce and online banking financial platforms. Findings - The empirical results suggest that network externalities influence users’ financial behavior by herding (HE) (imitating others and discounting their own information) and PV. PV and HE are key factors in users’ investment decisions with regard to internet financial products. Moreover, users’ self-efficacy (SE) and platform type play moderate roles in the influence mechanism. Practical implications - The research conclusions provide valuable references for designing financial products and establishing regulatory rules, which will help the internet financial industry to grow soundly and innovatively. Originality/value - This study uncovers the mediating effect of HE and PV between network externalities and users’ investment intentions in the context of internet financial products. In addition, the moderating effect of users’ SE and platform types is revealed.

Keywords: Network externalities; Internet financial products; Grounded theory; Perceived value; Herding (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:jebdep:jebde-01-2023-0003

DOI: 10.1108/JEBDE-01-2023-0003

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Electronic Business & Digital Economics is currently edited by Dr. Qiongwei Ye

More articles in Journal of Electronic Business & Digital Economics from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().