IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v63y2017i5p1365-1384.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Behavior of Investor Flows in Corporate Bond Mutual Funds

Author

Listed:
  • Yong Chen

    (Mays Business School, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843)

  • Nan Qin

    (Luter School of Business, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Virginia 23606)

Abstract

This paper provides a comprehensive examination of money flows in corporate bond funds, which, although less researched, represent an important setting to study investor behavior. Based on a large sample of corporate bond funds over 1991–2014, we first show that flows are sensitive to both fund performance and macroeconomic conditions, but unlike equity funds, the flow–performance relationship is not convex. Then, we find that investor flows can predict fund performance. More importantly, the predictability cannot be explained by return momentum or price pressure but is subsumed by performance persistence. Finally, an examination of idiosyncratic flows reveals little evidence that fund investors use finer-than-public information.

Suggested Citation

  • Yong Chen & Nan Qin, 2017. "The Behavior of Investor Flows in Corporate Bond Mutual Funds," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(5), pages 1365-1384, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:63:y:2017:i:5:p:1365-1384
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2015.2372
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2015.2372
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.2015.2372?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. Blake, Christopher R & Elton, Edwin J & Gruber, Martin J, 1993. "The Performance of Bond Mutual Funds," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(3), pages 370-403, July.
    2. Veronika K. Pool & Clemens Sialm & Irina Stefanescu, 2016. "It Pays to Set the Menu: Mutual Fund Investment Options in 401(k) Plans," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 71(4), pages 1779-1812, August.
    3. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1992. "Liquidation Values and Debt Capacity: A Market Equilibrium Approach," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 47(4), pages 1343-1366, September.
    4. Ippolito, Richard A, 1992. "Consumer Reaction to Measures of Poor Quality: Evidence from the Mutual Fund Industry," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(1), pages 45-70, April.
    5. Spiegel, Matthew & Zhang, Hong, 2013. "Mutual fund risk and market share-adjusted fund flows," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(2), pages 506-528.
    6. Lu Zheng, 1999. "Is Money Smart? A Study of Mutual Fund Investors' Fund Selection Ability," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(3), pages 901-933, June.
    7. Jing-Zhi Huang & Ying Wang, 2014. "Timing Ability of Government Bond Fund Managers: Evidence from Portfolio Holdings," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(8), pages 2091-2109, August.
    8. Clemens Sialm & Laura T. Starks & Hanjiang Zhang, 2015. "Defined Contribution Pension Plans: Sticky or Discerning Money?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(2), pages 805-838, April.
    9. Travis Sapp & Ashish Tiwari, 2004. "Does Stock Return Momentum Explain the "Smart Money" Effect?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(6), pages 2605-2622, December.
    10. Gruber, Martin J, 1996. "Another Puzzle: The Growth in Activity Managed Mutual Funds," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(3), pages 783-810, July.
    11. Carhart, Mark M, 1997. "On Persistence in Mutual Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 57-82, March.
    12. Chevalier, Judith & Ellison, Glenn, 1997. "Risk Taking by Mutual Funds as a Response to Incentives," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(6), pages 1167-1200, December.
    13. Jennifer Huang & Clemens Sialm & Hanjiang Zhang, 2011. "Risk Shifting and Mutual Fund Performance," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 24(8), pages 2575-2616.
    14. Erik R. Sirri & Peter Tufano, 1998. "Costly Search and Mutual Fund Flows," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(5), pages 1589-1622, October.
    15. Jonathan B. Berk & Richard C. Green, 2004. "Mutual Fund Flows and Performance in Rational Markets," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(6), pages 1269-1295, December.
    16. Cici, Gjergji & Gibson, Scott & Merrick Jr., John J., 2011. "Missing the marks? Dispersion in corporate bond valuations across mutual funds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(1), pages 206-226, July.
    17. Richard B. Evans, 2010. "Mutual Fund Incubation," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(4), pages 1581-1611, August.
    18. Coval, Joshua & Stafford, Erik, 2007. "Asset fire sales (and purchases) in equity markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 479-512, November.
    19. Guercio, Diane Del & Tkac, Paula A., 2002. "The Determinants of the Flow of Funds of Managed Portfolios: Mutual Funds vs. Pension Funds," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 37(4), pages 523-557, December.
    20. Dong Lou, 2012. "A Flow-Based Explanation for Return Predictability," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(12), pages 3457-3489.
    21. Stephen J. Brown & William N. Goetzmann & James Park, 2001. "Careers and Survival: Competition and Risk in the Hedge Fund and CTA Industry," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(5), pages 1869-1886, October.
    22. Ferson, Wayne E & Schadt, Rudi W, 1996. "Measuring Fund Strategy and Performance in Changing Economic Conditions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(2), pages 425-461, June.
    23. Aneel Keswani & David Stolin, 2008. "Which Money Is Smart? Mutual Fund Buys and Sells of Individual and Institutional Investors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(1), pages 85-118, February.
    24. Clemens Sialm & Laura Starks & Hanjiang Zhang, 2015. "Defined Contribution Pension Plans: Mutual Fund Asset Allocation Changes," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 432-436, May.
    25. Jennifer Huang & Kelsey D. Wei & Hong Yan, 2007. "Participation Costs and the Sensitivity of Fund Flows to Past Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(3), pages 1273-1311, June.
    26. Joseph Chen & Harrison Hong & Ming Huang & Jeffrey D. Kubik, 2004. "Does Fund Size Erode Mutual Fund Performance? The Role of Liquidity and Organization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1276-1302, December.
    27. Gergana Jostova & Stanislava Nikolova & Alexander Philipov & Christof W. Stahel, 2013. "Momentum in Corporate Bond Returns," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(7), pages 1649-1693.
    28. Gebhardt, William R. & Hvidkjaer, Soeren & Swaminathan, Bhaskaran, 2005. "Stock and bond market interaction: Does momentum spill over?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 651-690, March.
    29. Moneta, Fabio, 2015. "Measuring bond mutual fund performance with portfolio characteristics," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 223-242.
    30. Chen, Yong & Ferson, Wayne & Peters, Helen, 2010. "Measuring the timing ability and performance of bond mutual funds," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 72-89, October.
    31. Elton, Edwin J & Gruber, Martin J & Blake, Christopher R, 1995. "Fundamental Economic Variables, Expected Returns, and Bond Fund Performance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1229-1256, September.
    32. Cici, Gjergji & Gibson, Scott, 2012. "The Performance of Corporate Bond Mutual Funds: Evidence Based on Security-Level Holdings," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(1), pages 159-178, February.
    33. Dimson, Elroy, 1979. "Risk measurement when shares are subject to infrequent trading," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 197-226, June.
    34. Paul Schultz, 2001. "Corporate Bond Trading Costs: A Peek Behind the Curtain," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(2), pages 677-698, April.
    35. George Comer & Javier Rodriguez, 2013. "A comparison of corporate versus government bond funds," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 37(4), pages 495-510, October.
    36. Vikram Nanda, 2004. "Family Values and the Star Phenomenon: Strategies of Mutual Fund Families," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 17(3), pages 667-698.
    37. Huij, Joop & Derwall, Jeroen, 2008. ""Hot Hands" in bond funds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 559-572, April.
    38. Fama, Eugene F & MacBeth, James D, 1973. "Risk, Return, and Equilibrium: Empirical Tests," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 81(3), pages 607-636, May-June.
    39. repec:oup:rfinst:v:25:y::i:12:p:3457-3489 is not listed on IDEAS
    40. Brown, Keith C & Harlow, W V & Starks, Laura T, 1996. "Of Tournaments and Temptations: An Analysis of Managerial Incentives in the Mutual Fund Industry," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 51(1), pages 85-110, March.
    41. Christopher G. Schwarz, 2012. "Mutual Fund Tournaments: The Sorting Bias and New Evidence," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 25(3), pages 913-936.
    42. Jegadeesh, Narasimhan & Titman, Sheridan, 1993. "Returns to Buying Winners and Selling Losers: Implications for Stock Market Efficiency," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 48(1), pages 65-91, March.
    43. Nanda, Vikram K. & Wang, Z. Jay & Zheng, Lu, 2009. "The ABCs of mutual funds: On the introduction of multiple share classes," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 329-361, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Banegas, Ayelen & Montes-Rojas, Gabriel & Siga, Lucas, 2022. "The effects of U.S. monetary policy shocks on mutual fund investing," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    2. Ryan, Ellen, 2022. "Are fund managers rewarded for taking cyclical risks?," Working Paper Series 2652, European Central Bank.
    3. Abbas Hejri, 2022. "On the recent developments of mutual funds with fixed‐income holdings: a systematic review," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2313-2338, June.
    4. Laura Capota & Margherita Giuzio & Sujit Kapadia & Dilyara Salakhova, 2022. "Are ethical and green investment funds more resilient?," IFC Bulletins chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Statistics for Sustainable Finance, volume 56, Bank for International Settlements.
    5. Cici, Gjergji & Zhang, Pei (Alex), 2021. "On the valuation skills of corporate bond mutual funds," CFR Working Papers 21-05, University of Cologne, Centre for Financial Research (CFR).
    6. Nan Qin & Vijay Singal, 2023. "Effect of high‐frequency trading on mutual fund performance," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 58(2), pages 369-394, May.
    7. Thierry Roncalli & Fatma Karray-Meziou & Franc{c}ois Pan & Margaux Regnault, 2021. "Liquidity Stress Testing in Asset Management -- Part 1. Modeling the Liability Liquidity Risk," Papers 2101.02110, arXiv.org.
    8. Uddin, Gazi Salah & Arreola Hernandez, Jose & Labidi, Chiraz & Troster, Victor & Yoon, Seong-Min, 2019. "The impact of financial and economic factors on Islamic mutual fund performance: Evidence from multiple fund categories," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 52.
    9. Ryan, Ellen, 2022. "Are fund managers rewarded for taking cyclical risks?," ESRB Working Paper Series 134, European Systemic Risk Board.
    10. Kim, Donghyun & Li, Chengcheng & Wang, Xiaoqiong, 2021. "Risk-taking and performance of government bond mutual funds," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    11. Jakub Kubiczek, 2020. "Corporate Bond Market in Poland—Prospects for Development," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-13, December.
    12. Andreu, Laura & Gimeno, Ruth & Ortiz, Cristina, 2022. "Diversification and manager autonomy in fund families: Implications for investors," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    13. Raphaëlle BELLANDO & Laura-Dona CAPOTA & Sébastien GALANTI, 2019. "The impact of return shocks on mutual funds’ flows: an empirical study of French bond mutual funds," LEO Working Papers / DR LEO 2730, Orleans Economics Laboratory / Laboratoire d'Economie d'Orleans (LEO), University of Orleans.
    14. Qin, Nan & Wang, Ying, 2021. "Does portfolio concentration affect performance? Evidence from corporate bond mutual funds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    15. Fulkerson, Jon A. & Riley, Timothy B., 2019. "Portfolio concentration and mutual fund performance," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1-16.
    16. Amin, Shehryar & Tédongap, Roméo, 2023. "The changing landscape of treasury auctions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    17. Koo, Minjae & Muslu, Volkan, 2023. "Fund Flows and Asset Valuations of Bond Mutual Funds: Effect of Side-by-Side Management," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).

    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. Clemens Sialm & T. Mandy Tham, 2016. "Spillover Effects in Mutual Fund Companies," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(5), pages 1472-1486, May.
    2. Jiang, George J. & Yuksel, H. Zafer, 2017. "What drives the “Smart-Money” effect? Evidence from investors’ money flow to mutual fund classes," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 39-58.
    3. Jennifer Huang & Kelsey D. Wei & Hong Yan, 2022. "Investor learning and mutual fund flows," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 51(3), pages 739-765, September.
    4. Martin Rohleder & Dominik Schulte & Marco Wilkens, 2017. "Management of flow risk in mutual funds," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 31-56, January.
    5. 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.
    6. Qin, Nan & Wang, Ying, 2021. "Does portfolio concentration affect performance? Evidence from corporate bond mutual funds," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    7. Clifford, Christopher P. & Jordan, Bradford D. & Riley, Timothy B., 2014. "Average funds versus average dollars: Implications for mutual fund research," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 249-260.
    8. Rakowski, David & Yamani, Ehab, 2021. "Endogeneity in the mutual fund flow–performance relationship: An instrumental variables solution," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 247-271.
    9. Moneta, Fabio, 2015. "Measuring bond mutual fund performance with portfolio characteristics," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 223-242.
    10. Martin Rohleder, 2015. "The Relation between Past Flows and Future Performance: Simple Investment Strategies in the Mutual Fund Sector," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-28, February.
    11. Yamani, Ehab, 2023. "The informational role of fund flow in the profitable predictability of mutual funds," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    12. Markus Natter & Martin Rohleder & Dominik Schulte & Marco Wilkens, 2017. "Bond mutual funds and complex investments," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(6), pages 433-456, October.
    13. Shinozawa, Yoshikatsu & Vivian, Andrew, 2015. "Determinants of money flows into investment trusts in Japan," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 138-161.
    14. 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.
    15. Clemens Sialm & Laura T. Starks & Hanjiang Zhang, 2015. "Defined Contribution Pension Plans: Sticky or Discerning Money?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(2), pages 805-838, April.
    16. Casavecchia, Lorenzo, 2016. "Fund managers' herding and the sensitivity of fund flows to past performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 205-221.
    17. Kim, Donghyun & Li, Chengcheng & Wang, Xiaoqiong, 2021. "Risk-taking and performance of government bond mutual funds," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    18. Otero-González, Luis & Leite, Paulo & Durán-Santomil, Pablo & Domingues, Renato, 2022. "Morningstar Star ratings and the performance, risk and flows of European bond mutual funds," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 479-496.
    19. Yee Loon, 2011. "Model uncertainty, performance persistence and flows," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 153-205, February.
    20. Klinkowska, Olga & Zhao, Yuan, 2023. "Fund flows and performance: New evidence from retail and institutional SRI mutual funds," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).

    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:inm:ormnsc:v:63:y:2017:i:5:p:1365-1384. 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: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.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.