The role of managerial analytical competence in shaping operational performance: Unveiling the mediating effects of market perception and investment decisions

With the active nature of the financial markets, the fund managers have ceased to be in the conventional asset selection role and have taken up strategic decision making, as well as market sensing. The paper will examine how managerial analytical competence influences the performance of the funds, and how market perception and investment decisions mediate the effect of managerial analytical competence. Based on the dynamic capabilities, behavioral finance and information asymmetry theories, this study forms a structural model of the relationship between fund managers analytical capabilities based on their education, experience and historical performance and fund performance, in terms of absolute and risk-adjusted returns. Primary data were gathered through a structured questionnaire that was given to ۳۲۰ fund managers who were members of the China Securities Investment Fund Association and secondary data on fund performance indicators between ۲۰۲۰ and ۲۰۲۴. The results obtained with the help of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) indicate that the analytical competence of managers is a significant level of managerial performance improvement either directly or indirectly and in terms of a better market perception and more rational investment decisions. Process perception appears to be a partial mediator between investment decisions and analytical competence as well as a moderator of the effect of analytical capability on decisions. This paper provides empirical data concerning behavioral and cognitive processes that exist between fund manager skills and fund returns. This finding indicates that industrial organizations and regulatory bodies need to focus more on the analytical competencies and market consciousness of fund managers. The research also helps in developing future literature on fund governance by incorporating managerial cognition in performance evaluations structure.

کلیدواژه ها:

Managerial Analytical Competence ، Fund Performance ، Market Perception ، Investment Decision-Making ، structural equation modeling ، Behavioral Finance ، Dynamic capabilities theory