Naked Aggression: Personality and Portfolio Manager Performance

38 Pages Posted: 20 Jun 2015 Last revised: 20 Feb 2017

See all articles by Thomas H. Noe

Thomas H. Noe

University of Oxford - Said Business School; University of Oxford - Balliol College; Bank of Finland; European Corporate Governance Institute

Nir Vulkan

University of Oxford - Said Business School

Date Written: February 18, 2015

Abstract

Why do portfolio managers actively manage their stock portfolios? The finance literature suggests the importance of financial incentives, effort, information and career concerns. We suggest that personality can also be a factor. We perform an experiment with industry experts. The experiment documents that, in a group decision setting, subjects with high aggression, measured by a standard psychology test, were much more likely to deviate from market tracking. In an individual decision setting, these same subject’s behavior was not significantly affected by aggressiveness. This result suggests that, in group settings, personality, rather than cognitive biases, might be the most important source of behavioral deviations from the rational choice paradigm.

Suggested Citation

Noe, Thomas H. and Vulkan, Nir, Naked Aggression: Personality and Portfolio Manager Performance (February 18, 2015). Saïd Business School WP 2015-1, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2556845 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2556845

Thomas H. Noe (Contact Author)

University of Oxford - Said Business School ( email )

Park End Street
Oxford, OX1 3BJ
United Kingdom

University of Oxford - Balliol College ( email )

Broad St
Oxford, OX1 3BJ
United Kingdom

Bank of Finland ( email )

P.O. Box 160
FIN-00101 Helsinki
Finland

European Corporate Governance Institute ( email )

c/o the Royal Academies of Belgium
Rue Ducale 1 Hertogsstraat
1000 Brussels
Belgium

Nir Vulkan

University of Oxford - Said Business School ( email )

Park End Street
Oxford, OX1 1HP
Great Britain
+44 01865 288929, or 288338 (Phone)
+44 01865 288805 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: https://vulkan.worc.ox.ac.uk/

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