Behavioral Biases in Panic Selling: Exploring the Role of Framing during the COVID-19 Market Crisis

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Please refer to the attached document for my comments and suggestions. I urge the authors to incorporate all my comments in detail in order to make a more compelling case for the paper providing a real contribution to the literature. 

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thank you very much for the insightful comments. I've attached a file for our replies.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The current article presents several contributions to the investigation of investor behavior biases and panic selling during the COVID-19 market crisis.

After a thorough reading of the article, I have provided some revision suggestions for various sections. Please refer to the attached reviewer comments file.

Comments for author File: Comments.pdf

Author Response

Thank you very much for the helpful comments. I've attached our replies.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper explores panic selling, which is an interesting research area. There are some parts which are not very clear. Firstly, what makes the investors selling their stock panic selling in your case. How is the panic part defined, how long did they hold their portfolio before, are some just speculative traders, this part is not clearly conceptualized as just selling the stock during the covid does not make it panic selling. Due to adverse effects of lockdowns on the economy people may have sold their investments to cover expenses. 

Also the introduction is long and informative and it may be easier to follow if there was a literature section where literature is structurally reviewed. Also the covid effect on the behavior is not discussed in detail. Covid pandemic resulted in many specific behaviors, so it can be viewed as a trigger of varoius behaviors such as hoarding, , for instance Sobirova, Z. (2020). Hoarding and Opportunistic Behavior During Covid-19 Pandemics: A Conceptual Model of Non-Ethical Behavior. International Journal of Management Science and Business Administration, 6(4), 22-29.

Not even 30 reference in the paper. Based on what support did you decide on your variables and create your models?

Finally , the paper lacks limitations and future studies.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

minor revision

Author Response

Thank you very much for the helpful comments. I've attached our replies.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The authors constructively responded to all the comments I raised. While most of the responses were satisfactory, I still think the authors should contextualize their findings in light of the literature on household investing behavior when dealing with major macroeconomic shocks (Fajardo and Dantas, 2018). Accordingly, can we infer that individuals’ pandemic experience should lead to lower stock market participation? Differently stated, are the individuals who panic-sold stocks less likely to participate in stock markets even four years after the onset of the pandemic?

Besides the aforementioned comment, all the points I raised were appropriately addressed. 

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

comments met