Prior literature shows decision fatigue reduces analysts’ forecast accuracy. We study whether analysts strategically manage their decision fatigue. Firms within an analyst’s research portfolio can differentially affect the analyst’s reputation and career, with larger firms with greater trading volumes and institutional ownership being more important. We find that analysts choose to issue forecasts for more important firms when they are less decision fatigued, i.e., when the number of prior forecasts the analyst has issued in the day is lower. Young analysts, analysts in low-status brokerage houses, and analysts who become decision fatigued more easily manage fatigue more, and analysts experience more favorable career outcomes after strategically managing fatigue. Finally, fatigued analysts differentiate between more important and other firms in herding and self-herding.

先前的文献表明，决策疲劳会降低分析师的预测准确性。我们研究分析师是否战略性地管理他们的决策疲劳。分析师研究组合中的公司会对分析师的声誉和职业产生不同的影响，交易量更大、机构所有权更大的公司更为重要。我们发现，当分析师的决策疲劳程度较低时，即当分析师当天发布的先前预测数量较少时，他们会选择对更重要的公司发布预测。年轻的分析师、低地位经纪公司的分析师和决策疲劳的分析师更容易管理疲劳，分析师在战略性地管理疲劳后会体验到更有利的职业成果。最后，