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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand investment intention of prospective individual investors in a developing country (i.e. India) by using the “Theory of Planned Behaviour” (TPB) (where perceived behavioural control has been replaced with financial self-efficacy, FSE) and two additional constructs, i.e. financial knowledge and personality traits (i.e. risk-taking propensity and preference for innovation) have been introduced. Design/methodology/approach The study uses quantitative and cross-sectional approach wherein questionnaire based survey was done to collect responses from prospective individual investors (920 usable responses). AMOS and SPSS have been used to establish the hypothesised relationship between the constructs. Findings The results of the study suggested that attitude was responsible for partial mediation between the relationship of financial knowledge and investment intention, whereas financial self-efficacy was exerting a dual role on the relationship between personality traits and investment intention. Subjective norms, on the other hand, exerted a weak positive effect on investment intention. Research limitations/implications This study is limited to measure the investment intention in financial markets in case of prospective individual investors; it does not incorporate the actual investment behaviour, the study also fails to include demographic factors which play a vital role in investment decision making. Furthermore, the study has only considered objective dimension of financial knowledge. Practical implications The findings will be useful for financial service providers who need to enhance the FSE and financial knowledge and design a “behavioural portfolio” according the personality traits of their clients. Social implications The up-liftment of financial confidence among individuals in order to motivate them to participate in financial markets and enjoy “short-cuts” towards financial success. Originality/value This study is one of the initial attempts in the context of the Indian Stock Market to introduce FSE as a dual (both mediating and moderating) construct between personality traits and investment intention using TPB, moreover, this study also provides the necessary impetus to analyse the relationship between financial knowledge and investment intention with attitude as the mediating variable.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to clarify the relationship between an individual investor’s personality trait and his perceived investment performance. It proposes a novel conceptual framework that integrates social influence (as a moderating construct) and outlines the role of personality in determining the perceived investment performance during the investment decision-making process. Design/methodology/approach A questionnaire-based survey was conducted to collect responses from 396 individual investors through stratified and quota sampling approach. The collected data were then analysed using both hierarchical regression analysis and structural equation modelling to evaluate the strength of the relationship between the constructs, namely, personality trait, perceived investment performance and social influence. Findings This study suggests that social influence positively moderates the relationship between extraversion-perceived investment performance, whereas it negatively moderates the relationship between agreeability-perceived investment performance. Research limitations/implications This study has certain limitations. First, this work follows a modelling approach which is more centred towards the prediction of relationships. Second, because of choosing a research approach (since the study has been conducted in one country, i.e. India), the results of the study may lack generalisability. Therefore, further studies could be encouraged to test the proposed hypotheses. Practical implications Insights from this study suggest that investors should look in for their personality traits while making an investment decision. In fact, psychologically modified portfolios should be developed as per the personality traits of the investors. Originality/value The study, perhaps, is the only study to apply social influence in a framework using Big Five personality traits as a possible factor to understand the individual differences in terms of perceived investment performance.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyse the mediation effect of psychological biases, namely, financial risk tolerance (FRT) and financial overconfidence on the relationship between personality traits of individual investors and their investment performance (perceived) in the context of a developing financial market such as Indian Capital Markets. Design/methodology/approach The study uses both quantitative and cross-sectional approach to collect response from 983 individual investors through a questionnaire. The questionnaire had segments that were designed to assess their personality traits, investment performance and psychological traits. The personality traits were assessed through Big-Five personality inventory (TIPI), the psychological traits, i.e. FRT was measured through FRT scale, whereas financial overconfidence was measured through three basic concepts, namely, over-precision, over-placement and overestimation. Investment performance was assessed through perceived investment performance measures. The collected data was then analysed through AMOS and SPSS to validate the hypothesised relationship. Findings Findings of the study depict that personality traits of individual investors are related with their FRT, financial overconfidence and perceived investment performance. In addition, FRT and financial overconfidence are negatively related to perceived investment performance. Furthermore, mediation analysis showed that the two psychological traits were found to fully mediate the relationship between personality traits and investment performance. Research limitations/implications There are still certain limitations of the present study. First, the questionnaire pre-testing and sampling technique allowed for only for those investors who had an experience of investment in financial markets; however, the quantification of actual investment performance for each investor was impossible, and thus the actual investment performance was not determined. Second, this study focusses on the mediating role of financial overconfidence and financial risk-taking, as such it is known that levels of financial overconfidence and risk-taking depend on many other extraneous factors such as socio-economic status and financial knowledge. Practical implications The findings of the present study is useful for financial companies, policymakers as well as issuers of financial securities, who can keep a watch on these behaviour-related traits before issuing a security in the financial market and for the financial service providers; this study would be beneficial to design a “behavioural portfolio” according to the personality and psychological traits of their clients. Social implications Through this study, the investors can recognise their personality traits and psychological biases and take sound and good investment decisions and can also maximise their level of overconfidence. This increased level of overconfidence will propel them further to actively and frequently participate in financial markets and make financial gains. Originality/value The essence of this paper lies in the identification of personality traits and psychological traits of individual investors, and their relationship with investment performance. Studies such as this are less prevalent in the context of a developing country such as India. Moreover, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is first of its kind to study the meditating effect of psychological biases in the relationship between personality traits and investment performance.

Investment in pro-environmental financial assets like ‘green shares’ is rapidly emerging field in the area of personal finance. However, there has been a dearth of studies that could possibly explain the factors that indulge an investor to invest in ‘green shares’, in the context of a growing economy like India. Therefore, the present study makes an attempt to analyse the possible role of personality trait of an individual investor, keeping in mind his concern towards the environment, on his investment decision in ‘green shares’. This study has incorporated the Big-Five personality traits, along with the measures that determines an individual’s affection towards his environment and its relationship with his decision to invest in environmental friendly companies. A total of 572 individual investors participated in the study by completing a questionnaires about their personality, environmental concern and investment decision through disproportionate stratified random sampling. The collected data was analysed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results of the present study revealed that individuals largely differ in critical ways in terms of their personality traits, which in turn plays a very detrimental role towards deciding the investment decision in ‘green shares’.