Teleinvestmentevangelists: celebrity, ritual and religion and the quest to “beat the market”

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to offer a cultural understanding of investor faith in stock picking despite overwhelming evidence questioning its efficacy. Why, in the face of very widely communicated findings calling into question the advice and assistance offered by financial professionals to help them pick stocks or manage their mutual funds, do so many people persist in these practices? The authors believe that the best way to understand investor faith in the efficacy of stock picking is through teleinvestmentevangelists such as Jim Cramer, whose fusion of celebrity and religion taps into the ritualistic elements of investment that usually lie hidden. Drawing from media, religious and cultural studies theory, the authors flesh out the dynamics of the teleinvestmentevangelist as a powerful character, the understanding of which provides insights on the pre-modern meanings that inhere in mediated global capital. Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual work draws on theoretical perspectives and qualitative experiences of everyday investors to explain why the entire field of stock picking remains so robust and captivating in the face of ample evidence that calls into question the validity of the entire phenomenon. Findings – This paper derives and introduces the hypothetical figure of the “Teleinvestmentevangelist” in an attempt to weave dimensions of celebrity, ritual and religion together to explain investors undeterred faith in the ability to pick individual stocks and “beat the market”. Research limitations/implications – The primary research implication of this paper is that it exhibits the continued value of integrating interdisciplinary perspectives for understanding investing experience beyond more limited views undergirded by neoclassical economics. One challenge of the paper is that it attempts to merge three disparate perspectives that have not typically been integrated and applied to financial phenomena. Practical implications – One practical implication of this paper is that it provides a perspective and vocabulary that enables us to understand financial experiences more fully and reflect on these understandings more critically. Social implications – Armed with a richer understanding of financial and investing experience, individual investors can better appreciate fundamental cultural misrecognitions that potentially culminate in symbolic violence whereby certain groups of investors are systematically disadvantaged. Originality/value – The originality of this paper lies in its synthesis of disparate literature bases and application of this synthesis to the financial and investing world. Not only are the individual theoretical perspectives rarely consulted vis-à-vis investing experience but also is their synthesis particularly unique and original in the context of financial and investing phenomena.