Assessing the Linkage of Behavioural Traits and Investment Decisions using SEM Approach

The goal of this research is to investigate to what extent long term and short term stock investors share different behavioural characteristics. A structural model is employed to compare the traits of the investors and examine how investment decision making and behavioural biases are related, as well compare the relative differences of behavioural biases such as Herding, Social Contagion, Representative Heuristic, Over Confidence, Risk Aversion, Disposition Effect and Cognitive Dissonance. Identification of behavioural traits commonly associated with investment tenure aids in providing opinions and framing trading strategies. The psychological impact of investment decision making among investors is studied through a sampling survey of 318 valid respondents from voluntary retail investors in India between Jan 2012 and May 2012. Based on structure equation modelling [SEM], path analysis is performed on how investment decision making and the proposed behavioural biases are related. Analytical results indicate that the structural path model closely fits to the sample data, implying the role of behavioural biases in investment decision making among individuals. Our results further demonstrate that long term and short term investors significantly differ in behavioural traits.