Patricia Riley, Chair
ABSTRACT:
Sensemaking in a Bear Market
This study explored the accounts posted by a group of participants to a stock market oriented Internet message forum. The research focused on these questions: What accounts did these participants give for acting or failing to act when the market environment turned hostile during the bear market of 2000-2002? Under hostile conditions, how did the market participants perceive their options? More specifically, this study focused on the sensemaking used by these Internet-based market participants when they faced losses in their stock positions, and whether they reported that they held or closed their losses. The study also paid particular attention to the ways such sensemaking might be shaped by the technologically mediated environment in which the market participants operated. Using qualitative techniques, the analysis found that the sensemaking dynamics of extracting and elaborating information cues, holding the “attitude of wisdom,” and emphasizing quick action, seemed to yield insight into why and how market participants might or might not act effectively in a hostile market environment.