IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/chinae/v34y2026i2p67-109.html

Industry Concentration and Mutual Fund Performance: The Roles of Managerial Effort and Investor Behavior

Author

Listed:
  • Ye Zhou
  • Danchen Li
  • Yamei Wang
  • Wentao Tian

Abstract

This study examined how industry concentration structure can affect mutual fund performance under the dual channels of fund manager effort and investor erosion. Using quarterly data from Chinese equity and equity‐oriented hybrid funds from 2015 to 2022, the study investigated this relationship and its underlying mechanisms. The results show that greater industry concentration significantly improved fund performance. The positive effect stemmed from the interplay between managers' strategic efforts and the erosive impact of investor behavior. Mechanism analysis indicates that fund managers enhanced performance primarily through professional skill‐driven industry allocation strategies rather than informational advantages. Industry concentration also produced time‐lagged effects on performance. The effort‐driven component of concentration contributed positively to performance, whereas investor subscriptions and redemptions generated significant erosion effects. The results identify industry concentration structure as a critical determinant of fund performance, providing theoretical and empirical foundations for re‐evaluating fund performance sources.

Suggested Citation

  • Ye Zhou & Danchen Li & Yamei Wang & Wentao Tian, 2026. "Industry Concentration and Mutual Fund Performance: The Roles of Managerial Effort and Investor Behavior," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 34(2), pages 67-109, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:chinae:v:34:y:2026:i:2:p:67-109
    DOI: 10.1111/cwe.70017
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/cwe.70017
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/cwe.70017?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thorsten Martin & Florian Sonnenburg, 2015. "Managerial Ownership Changes and Mutual Fund Performance," Working Papers hal-02002728, HAL.
    2. Martin , Thorsten & Sonnenburg , Florian, 2015. "Managerial Ownership Changes and Mutual Fund Performance," HEC Research Papers Series 1102, HEC Paris.
    3. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 2015. "A five-factor asset pricing model," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 1-22.
    4. Martin, Thorsten & Sonnenburg, Florian, 2015. "Managerial ownership changes and mutual fund performance," CFR Working Papers 16-03, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    5. Ľuboš Pástor & Robert F. Stambaugh & Lucian A. Taylor, 2017. "Do Funds Make More When They Trade More?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 72(4), pages 1483-1528, August.
    6. Fama, Eugene F. & French, Kenneth R., 1993. "Common risk factors in the returns on stocks and bonds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 3-56, February.
    7. Hai Jiang & Shuangyi Chen & Zifeng Wang, 2025. "Do Institutional Investor Cliques Undermine Stock Price Efficiency?," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 33(1), pages 223-258, January.
    8. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    9. Hong, Xin & Kang, Di & Wang, Zhibin, 2021. "Do mutual funds lose talent to hedge funds? Evidence from China," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 679-689.
    10. Linlin Ma & Yuehua Tang, 2019. "Portfolio Manager Ownership and Mutual Fund Risk Taking," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(12), pages 5518-5534, December.
    11. repec:eme:mfppss:v:34:y:2008:i:11:p:772-785 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Richard B. Evans, 2010. "Mutual Fund Incubation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(4), pages 1581-1611, August.
    13. Michael S. Drake & Darren T. Roulstone & Jacob R. Thornock, 2012. "Investor Information Demand: Evidence from Google Searches Around Earnings Announcements," Journal of Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 50(4), pages 1001-1040, September.
    14. Marcin Kacperczyk & Clemens Sialm & Lu Zheng, 2005. "On the Industry Concentration of Actively Managed Equity Mutual Funds," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(4), pages 1983-2011, August.
    15. Pi‐Hsia Hung & Donald Lien & Yun‐Ju Chien, 2020. "Portfolio concentration and fund manager performance," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(3), pages 423-451, July.
    16. Fulkerson, Jon A. & Riley, Timothy B., 2019. "Portfolio concentration and mutual fund performance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1-16.
    17. Joshua M. Pollet & Mungo Wilson, 2008. "How Does Size Affect Mutual Fund Behavior?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 2941-2969, December.
    18. Fang Cai, 2023. "Regaining China's Resource Reallocative Efficiency to Boost Growth," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 31(1), pages 5-21, January.
    19. Chen, Hong-Yi & Chen, Hsuan-Chi & Lai, Christine W., 2021. "Internet search, fund flows, and fund performance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    20. Numan Ülkü & Kexing Wu, 2023. "Stock Market's Response to Real Output Shocks in China: A VARwAL Estimation," China & World Economy, Institute of World Economics and Politics, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, vol. 31(5), pages 1-25, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Amit Pandey & Anil Kumar Sharma, 2023. "Indian institutional investor's portfolio concentration decision: skill and performance," Journal of Advances in Management Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(1), pages 66-95, December.
    2. Fulkerson, Jon A. & Riley, Timothy B., 2019. "Portfolio concentration and mutual fund performance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1-16.
    3. Bai, John Jianqiu & Tang, Yuehua & Wan, Chi & Yüksel, H. Zafer, 2022. "Fund manager skill in an era of globalization: Offshore concentration and fund performance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(2), pages 18-40.
    4. Pi‐Hsia Hung & Donald Lien & Yun‐Ju Chien, 2020. "Portfolio concentration and fund manager performance," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 38(3), pages 423-451, July.
    5. Jiang, George J. & Zaynutdinova, Gulnara R. & Zhang, Huacheng, 2021. "Stock-selection timing," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    6. Cuthbertson, Keith & Nitzsche, Dirk & O'Sullivan, Niall, 2016. "A review of behavioural and management effects in mutual fund performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 162-176.
    7. Li, Xing & Hou, Keqiang, 2023. "Over-weighting risk factor augmented with mutual fund managers' social networks," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    8. Hung, Pi-Hsia & Lien, Donald & Kuo, Ming-Sin, 2020. "Window dressing in equity mutual funds," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 338-354.
    9. Bai, Ting & Hilscher, Jens & Scherbina, Anna, 2025. "Unencumbered by style: Why do funds change factor loadings, and does it help?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    10. Loban, Lidia & Sarto, José Luis & Vicente, Luis, 2021. "Determinants of non-compliant equity funds with EU portfolio concentration limits," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    11. Matallín-Sáez, Juan Carlos & de Mingo-López, Diego Víctor, 2025. "The components of tracking error, interim trading and mutual fund performance," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    12. Cici, Gjergji & Hendriock, Mario & Kempf, Alexander, 2022. "Finding your calling: Matching skills with jobs in the mutual fund industry," CFR Working Papers 19-05, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR), revised 2022.
    13. Ľuboš Pástor & M Blair Vorsatz & Jeffrey Pontiff, 0. "Mutual Fund Performance and Flows during the COVID-19 Crisis," The Review of Asset Pricing Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(4), pages 791-833.
    14. Victor DeMiguel & Javier Gil-Bazo & Francisco J. Nogales & André A. P. Santos, 2021. "Can machine learning help to select portfolios of mutual funds?," Economics Working Papers 1772, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    15. repec:bge:wpaper:1245 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Chen, Jie & Lasfer, Meziane & Song, Wei & Zhou, Si, 2021. "Recession managers and mutual fund performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    17. Pástor, Ľuboš & Stambaugh, Robert F. & Taylor, Lucian A., 2015. "Scale and skill in active management," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 23-45.
    18. Lee, John Byong-Tek & Ma, Jun & Margaritis, Dimitris & Yang, Wanyi, 2023. "Is anti-herding always a smart choice? Evidence from mutual funds," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    19. Jaspersen, Stefan, 2021. "Mutual Fund Bets on Market Power," CFR Working Papers 16-07, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR), revised 2021.
    20. Viktoriya Lantushenko & Edward Nelling, 2021. "Do more active funds still earn higher performance? Evidence from Active Share over time," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 44(4), pages 725-752, December.
    21. Bryan D. MacGregor & Rainer Schulz & Yuan Zhao, 2021. "Performance and Market Maturity in Mutual Funds: Is Real Estate Different?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 437-492, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:chinae:v:34:y:2026:i:2:p:67-109. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iwepacn.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.