Imitation-related performance outcomes in social trading: A configurational approach

This paper draws on the resource-based view and risk-related research to examine imitation-related configurations that explain performance outcomes in social trading. The study applies qualitative comparative analysis to examine 16,964 investment observations at eToro, the world's largest social trading platform. The results show that the experience and the imitation of traders, in combination with a low risk level, equifinally explain similar performance outcomes. The findings contribute to the literature on social trading and the resource-based view by exploring imitation as a valuable strategy, conceptualizing and empirically validating the role of risk in social trading, and drawing on qualitative comparative analysis to develop a more complex configurational understanding of the examined phenomenon.