Borrower platform choice: The influencing factors on herding

摘要

Based on the unique data from a popular P2P website in China, this paper investigates the borrowers' herding behavior and its influencing factors, e.g., platform attribute and moderating events. We mainly find that: (ⅰ) there exists herding behavior at the platform level and that the loan amount, loan interest rate and loan duration are positively related to the magnitude of herding; (2) the borrowers' herding behavior is increased by a platform's market share and the number of participants; (3) regulatory events have negative effects on the herding behavior. Our findings have practical implications for P2P participants, platforms, and policymakers.