Does Online Community Participation Foster Risky Financial Behavior?

Abstract

Although consumers increasingly use online communities for various activities, little is known about how participation in them affects people's decision-making strategies. Through a series of field and laboratory studies, the authors demonstrate that participation in an online community increases people's risk-seeking tendencies in their financial decisions and behaviors. The results reveal that participation in an online community leads consumers to believe that they will receive help or support from other members should difficulties arise. Such a perception leads online community participants to make riskier financial decisions than nonparticipants. The authors also discover a boundary condition to the effect: Online community members are more risk seeking only when they have relatively strong ties with other members; when ties are weak, they exhibit similar risk preferences as nonmembers.