Nomen est omen? How and when company name fluency affects return expectations.

Investors perceive stocks of companies with fluent names as more profitable. This perception may result from two different channels: a direct, non-deliberate affect toward fluent names or a deliberate interpretation of fluent names as a signal for company quality. We use preregistered experiments to...

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Main Authors: Achiel Fenneman, Dirk-Jan Janssen, Sven Nolte, Stefan Zeisberger
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2023-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287995
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author Achiel Fenneman
Dirk-Jan Janssen
Sven Nolte
Stefan Zeisberger
author_facet Achiel Fenneman
Dirk-Jan Janssen
Sven Nolte
Stefan Zeisberger
author_sort Achiel Fenneman
collection DOAJ
description Investors perceive stocks of companies with fluent names as more profitable. This perception may result from two different channels: a direct, non-deliberate affect toward fluent names or a deliberate interpretation of fluent names as a signal for company quality. We use preregistered experiments to disentangle these channels and test their limitations. Our results indicate the existence of a significant non-deliberate fluency effect, while the deliberate fluency effect can be activated and deactivated in boundary cases. Both effects are consistent across different groups of participants. However, whereas the fluency effect is strong in isolation, it has limitations when investors are confronted with additional information about the stock.
format Article
id doaj-art-50b6d3973f2e43c189fa7b0ed6c218a5
institution Kabale University
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2023-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-50b6d3973f2e43c189fa7b0ed6c218a52025-08-20T03:42:26ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032023-01-01188e028799510.1371/journal.pone.0287995Nomen est omen? How and when company name fluency affects return expectations.Achiel FennemanDirk-Jan JanssenSven NolteStefan ZeisbergerInvestors perceive stocks of companies with fluent names as more profitable. This perception may result from two different channels: a direct, non-deliberate affect toward fluent names or a deliberate interpretation of fluent names as a signal for company quality. We use preregistered experiments to disentangle these channels and test their limitations. Our results indicate the existence of a significant non-deliberate fluency effect, while the deliberate fluency effect can be activated and deactivated in boundary cases. Both effects are consistent across different groups of participants. However, whereas the fluency effect is strong in isolation, it has limitations when investors are confronted with additional information about the stock.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287995
spellingShingle Achiel Fenneman
Dirk-Jan Janssen
Sven Nolte
Stefan Zeisberger
Nomen est omen? How and when company name fluency affects return expectations.
PLoS ONE
title Nomen est omen? How and when company name fluency affects return expectations.
title_full Nomen est omen? How and when company name fluency affects return expectations.
title_fullStr Nomen est omen? How and when company name fluency affects return expectations.
title_full_unstemmed Nomen est omen? How and when company name fluency affects return expectations.
title_short Nomen est omen? How and when company name fluency affects return expectations.
title_sort nomen est omen how and when company name fluency affects return expectations
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0287995
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AT svennolte nomenestomenhowandwhencompanynamefluencyaffectsreturnexpectations
AT stefanzeisberger nomenestomenhowandwhencompanynamefluencyaffectsreturnexpectations