Foundations and research clusters in investor attention: Evidence from bibliometric and topic modelling analysis

Abstract

Investor attention is an emergent area in financial scholarship. However, no review till date offers a comprehensive retrospection of this research domain. To address this gap, we present an overview of investor-attention research in finance. Using both co-citation and structural topic modelling analyses, we infer the knowledge and thematic structure of investor-attention research for 1994–2021. By uncovering four co-citation clusters and eight specific topics, we conclude that investor-attention research in the areas of “underreaction to earnings announcements”, “sector and financial risk”, and “investors' attention and firm disclosures” is likely to soon expand rapidly. Our survey also identifies the most prominent scholars, author affiliations, and scientific outlets publishing on investor-attention research topics. We also explore the various theories examined or discussed in investor-attention scholarship, as well as identify research gaps.