Abstract:
Purpose – Colossal information is available in cyberspace from a variety of sources such as blogs,
reviews, posts and feedback. The mentioned sources have helped in improving various business
processes from product development to stock market development. This paper aims to transform this
wealth of information in the online medium to economic wealth. Earlier approaches to investment
decision-making are dominated by the analyst’s recommendations. However, their credibility has been
questioned for herding behavior, conflict of interest and favoring underwriter’s firms. This study
assumes that members of the online crowd who have been reliable, profitable and knowledgeable in the
recent past will continue to be so soon.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors identify credible members as experts using multicriteria decision-making tools. In this work, an alternative actionable investment strategy is proposed and
demonstrated through a mock-up. The experimental prototype is divided into two phases: expert selection
and investment.
Findings – The created portfolio is comparable and even profitable than several major global stock indices.
Practical implications – This work aims to benefit individual investors, investment managers and
market onlookers.
Originality/value – This paper takes into account factors: the accuracy and trustworthiness of the sources
of stock market recommendations. Earlier work in the area has focused solely intelligence of the analyst for
the stock recommendation. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first time that the combined
intelligence of the virtual investment communities has been considered to make stock market
recommendations