Spillover Effect in Islamic and Conventional Fund Family: Evidence from Emerging Countries

Abstract

This study examines star and poor funds belonging to fund families in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Malaysia from 2007–2020. The analysis is divided into two parts. The first part examines how Islamic and conventional star and poor funds contribute to the overall flow of their respective fund families. Second, it examines and compares the spillover effect of Islamic and conventional star (poor) funds to peer funds. These effects are estimated using pooled fixed- and random-effects regression analysis. Overall, we find that having at least one-star fund leads to new money growth for families, whereas there is no effect from having at least one poor fund. The presence of star (poor) funds has mixed effects on new money flow to peer funds. To be precise, the spillover effect is found only in the presence of Islamic star funds. These findings have important implications for investors because they mainly choose funds based on the reputation of the fund family to which they belong, not on their fundamentals. This is especially pronounced in emerging markets, where funds are young and have short track records, and so they provide little information to investors to make sound investment decisions.