Behavioural, Socio-economic Factors, Financial Literacy and Investment Decisions: Are Men More Rational and Women More Emotional?

This study covers the gender-wise analysis of how behavioural factors and socio-economic factors along with the level of financial literacy influence investment decisions of Indian retail investors. Equally pertinent is to understand that will it have a different influence and bearing on males and females. Multivariate technique partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) has been applied to develop the model and analyse the results. The study used a structured questionnaire for collecting data from retail investors. The findings of PLS-SEM show that in both genders, behavioural factors, socio-economic factors and financial literacy factors significantly affect investment decisions. However, the findings demonstrate that for women investors, the model is more effective. This study may be useful for prospective fund managers as, in many earlier studies, women are considered to be risk aversive. The results demonstrate that there is a need to target women, and the scenario today is not similar to the pre-existing ones. JEL Classification: G110, G4