The Influence of Social Interaction on Decision Making : Evidence from Moneyauction and Popfunding in Korea

How does social interaction among investors affect decision-making in the online social lending platform? And what is the reason? In this study, in order to obtain the answer, we carried out case study research of Moneyauction and Popfunding, which are domestic online social lending platforms. We conducted interviews with managements of both social lending platforms and investors and analyzed statistical data including investment records, social interaction history between investors and lenders from both platforms. In addition, researchers performed direct participation and observation through the platforms as real investment members. As a result, we revealed that social interaction among investors has a material impact on the investment decision-making. Also we found that investors build trust by socially interacting with each other and this trust building leads to the investment decision making. Our findings confirm that social lending investors`s decision-making process comply with the social embeddedness theory and imply that loan applicants must do their best efforts to display sincerity and truthfulness through their posting.