November 11, 1999
Konana Investigates Online Trading
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AUSTIN, TX. - Prabhudev Konana, assistant professor of MSIS, is working to perfect and expand the sometimes confusing online investing world. He was recently awarded the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award for his research on designing next-generation electronic brokerages for use in electronic markets, including the online investing sector.
Most do-it-yourself investors lack the time and resources to keep up with financial markets. And investing online can heighten the risks (and rewards) to the individual investor from adverse stock price movements. Online brokerages provide some mechanisms to protect investors, but most are only rudimentary safeguards.
Konana proposes an electronic brokerage that will allow investors to specify complex rules, monitor price movements, and take appropriate actions, including order-execution and investor-notification. Investors would be able to flexibly express their preferences, aligning their trading strategy with specific objectives.
Creating such functionality in the interactive online environment is an ambitious challenge, one that necessitates delving into a number of lines of inquiry. In a related stream of research, Konana and colleagues Sridhar Balasubramanian (Marketing) and Nirup Menon of Texas Tech University are investigating the consumer characteristics, operational factors, and related issues that influence trust formation and usage patterns in the context of online investing firms.
This large-scale study is being undertaken in association with two well-known online investing firms and the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII). According to Konana, a report regarding results of this significant study is expected to come out by the end of 1999.
For more information contact Prabhudev Konana.
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