社會網絡與金融投資：臺灣的股票與共同基金投資者的分析

Social Networks and Financial Investments: Evidence from Stock and Mutual Fund Holders in Taiwan

雖然過去有學者強調社會網絡對於風險資產投資可能帶來影響，然而目前仍較少文獻透過調查分析資料與社會網絡測量的方式，來衡量一般民眾從事風險投資的情況。本文從社會網絡與經濟社會學的理論文獻中發展數個經驗假設，並透過2007年臺灣社會變遷調查的樣本資料，檢視一般民眾受到人際網絡中其他投資人影響的可能性。我們的資料分析顯示：臺灣一般民眾參與股市與共同基金的可能性，與人際網絡中其他人參與投資的比重有關，特別是具有強連帶特徵的人際網絡影響力量更強。然而，人際網絡的作用對於較高教育程度的人影響較小。這些發現與過去社會網絡相關文獻的理論預期一致，也提供了在金融市場中探究社會網絡可能影響的一個難得機會。最後討論本文發現與金融市場發展以及財富不平等議題之間的關聯。

Although scholars have long emphasized the influence of social networks when working with risky financial assets, empirical studies using network measures to assess these effects are scarce. This study draws on the literature of social networks and economic sociology to formulate hypotheses regarding the influence of social networks on participation in financial investments. To test our hypotheses we used a representative dataset from the Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS, 2007), which contains information on the stock and mutual fund holdings of respondents. Our results show that higher proportions of people in one's social network who hold stocks or mutual funds exert positive impacts on financial investment participation. This effect is stronger for social networks composed largely of strong rather than weak ties. Further, network effects were found to be less significant for individuals with higher education levels. This study sheds light on how social networks can influence individual financial behaviors, and discusses the extent and limitations of network influences.