Individual investor attention to stock split and the disposition effect

Abstract

PurposeThis paper investigates whether individual investors are attentive to stock splits and whether higher split ratios (stronger private information signals) reduce the disposition effect.Design/methodology/approachThis study employs stock split events and transaction data in the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) from January 2004 to December 2017. The authors measure individual investors' attention using buy-initiated trades. To test the effect of split signal on disposition effect, the authors regress individual investors' sell-initiated trades on past stock returns.FindingsUnlike Birru (2015), the authors find that individual investors are attentive to stock splits, especially when stock split ratios are high. In turn, stock splits tend to weaken the disposition effect. The higher the stock split ratios, the weaker the disposition effect.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has a limitation in that the authors exclude all stock splits with dividend events around the split date. These stock splits cover 37% of all splits in Indonesia.Practical implicationsPractically, individual investors should look for stock-related information to reduce disposition bias.Originality/valueTo the best of authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to test individual investors' attention on stock splits based on their buy-initiated trades. This study is also the first to test the impact of stock split ratios on the disposition effect reduction. This study's findings enrich the scant literature on individual investors' attention and how to reduce their disposition effect bias.