The paper investigates the influence of the alumni social network of mutual fund managers on fund performance in India. The alumni networks of 211 managers managing 585 funds are constructed through seven network centrality measures for the period from April 2013 to March 2022. The study finds that fund managers who are more central to the network on average generate higher risk-adjusted excess return performance (alpha) and take a higher level of idiosyncratic risk. Although the centrality position of managers does not influence them in selecting small-capitalisation, value, and high market-beta stocks, more central fund managers tend to pick momentum stocks. The results affirm that the information advantages in the central position of alumni social networks improve fund performance, influence the managers’ investment style and enable higher risk-taking behaviour. The contribution of the paper is that the findings regarding investment style and fund flows are different than those of developed markets which may be relevant for other emerging markets.

本文调查了印度共同基金经理的校友社交网络对基金业绩的影响。管理 585 只基金的 211 名经理的校友网络是通过 2013 年 4 月至 2022 年 3 月期间的七种网络中心度指标构建的。研究发现，平均而言，在网络中更中心的基金经理会产生更高的风险调整后超额回报绩效（ alpha）并承担更高水平的特殊风险。尽管基金经理的中心地位并不影响他们选择小盘股、价值股和高市场贝塔值股票，但更多的中心基金经理倾向于选择动量股。研究结果证实，校友社交网络中心位置的信息优势提高了基金业绩，影响管理者的投资风格，并促进更高的风险承担行为。本文的贡献在于，有关投资风格和资金流向的研究结果与发达市场的研究结果不同，这可能与其他新兴市场相关。