Effects of Personality on Social Performance in Social Trading

Abstract

On social trading platforms, the income of leader traders is largely dictated by the number of copy trades conducted by their followers. Consequently, it is imperative for leader traders to exhibit appealing personalities to entice their followers to conduct copy trades. Drawing on social capital theory, we endeavor to scrutinize the effects of traders’ personalities on the accumulation of social capital, which in turn bolsters social performance as measured by the number of copy trades. Data was extracted from a leading social trading platform. The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator personality classification system was then employed to depict leader traders’ personalities based on a novel text-based, machine learning approach. Preliminary analytical results reveal significant relationships among personality traits, social capital dimensions, and social performance. Findings from this study generate insights for social trading platforms and leader traders on exhibiting desirable personalities conducive for accumulating social capital that entice followers to conduct copy trades.