The impact of past performance on information valuation in virtual communities: Empirical study in online stock message boards

Unlike other types of virtual communities, individuals participate in online stock message boards for their material needs rather than non-material needs (e.g., sense of belonging). They may seek and read others’ opinions to make better investment performances. The value of information in online stock message boards may vary from person to person according to their past investment experiences. However, little is known regarding how their past investment performance influences the value of others’ opinions. Therefore, our study investigates how individuals process others’ opinions on stock message boards for their investment decisions when they have different levels of past investment performance. We proposed the unique research model with two paths consisting of both online stock message board factors and individual factors to determine continuous use of online stock message boards. We conducted SEM analysis with 452 questionnaire data. The results, first, showed that message boards factors (e.g., satisfaction using others’ opinions) have a positive impact on continuous intention to use while their own satisfaction with past investment activities has a negative impact on continuous intention to use. In addition, we believe that this is one of the few papers to examine the moderating role of self-attribution bias on the effects of stock investment performance. Our results indicated that investors with strong self-attribution bias lower the usefulness of opinions when losing money while they increased confidence in their investment-related abilities when achieving a profit from investment. This study will help to support and extend the theory of IS continuance model while providing practical insights for online stock message board managers by suggesting ways to vitalize online stock message boards.