IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ist/iujepr/v9y2022i1p53-74.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An Empirical Study of Individuals’ Investment Decision Anomalies and Heuristics

Author

Listed:
  • Batuhan Medetoğlu

    (İstanbul Ayvansaray Üniversitesi, Finans Bankacılık ve Sigortacılık Bölümü, İstanbul, Türkiye)

  • Arif Saldanlı

    (İstanbul Üniversitesi, İktisat Fakültesi, İşletme Bölümü, İstanbul, Türkiye)

Abstract

Behavioral finance argues that individuals are not rational while making investment decisions due to some psychological, exogenous, and other factors. As a result, they end up making poor financial decisions. This study was conducted to determine factors that individual investors are exposed to while making investment decisions. A questionnaire was handed over to 532 participants as part of the study. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) program was used to conduct the analysis. Questionnaire responses were first subjected to factor analysis, and later, reliability analysis was conducted to determine which factors were the most effective in participants’ investment decisions. The reliability levels of the factors in the study were observed to be above the determined limits. The factors were shown to exhibit a significant and positive relationship. According to the results obtained, factors that affect investor decisions were grouped into three categories, namely, exogenous factors and herd behavior; cognitive illusions; and demographic and socioeconomic factors. Exogenous factors and herd behavior demonstrate situations that occur independently of investors, cognitive illusions demonstrate how psychological factors affect investors, and demographic and socioeconomic factors demonstrate how characteristics influence investors’ attitudes. Consequently, situations that affect investment decisions of investors were also grouped under three factors and findings concerning investor behaviors were explained. It was determined that the factors obtained in the study reflect and explain the situations that individuals are exposed to while making investment decisions. A majority of the participants are in the same age range, which is one of the study’s limitations. The use of diverse age groups in future research is suggested.

Suggested Citation

  • Batuhan Medetoğlu & Arif Saldanlı, 2022. "An Empirical Study of Individuals’ Investment Decision Anomalies and Heuristics," Journal of Economic Policy Researches, Istanbul University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 53-74, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:ist:iujepr:v:9:y:2022:i:1:p:53-74
    DOI: 10.26650/JEPR936253
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/74E871E7DA7F4AA496D0D3C77FAFDE99
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://iupress.istanbul.edu.tr/en/journal/jepr/article/bireylerin-yatirim-kararlarinda-maruz-kaldigi-anomali-ve-hevristikler-uzerine-ampirik-bir-calisma
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.26650/JEPR936253?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hall, Robert E, 1978. "Stochastic Implications of the Life Cycle-Permanent Income Hypothesis: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(6), pages 971-987, December.
    2. Lee Cronbach, 1951. "Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 16(3), pages 297-334, September.
    3. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    4. Fama, Eugene F, 1970. "Efficient Capital Markets: A Review of Theory and Empirical Work," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 25(2), pages 383-417, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. K.S. Muehlfeld & G.U. Weitzel & A. van Witteloostuijn, 2012. "Fight or freeze? Individual differences in investors’ motivational systems and trading in experimental asset markets," Working Papers 12-18, Utrecht School of Economics.
    2. Keunbae Ahn, 2021. "Predictable Fluctuations in the Cross-Section and Time-Series of Asset Prices," PhD Thesis, Finance Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney, number 1-2021.
    3. Christiane Goodfellow & Dirk Schiereck & Steffen Wippler, 2013. "Are behavioural finance equity funds a superior investment? A note on fund performance and market efficiency," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 14(2), pages 111-119, April.
    4. Klodt, Henning & Lehment, Harmen (ed.), 2009. "The Crisis and Beyond," Kiel E-Books, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), number 60981.
    5. David Peón & Anxo Calvo, 2012. "Using Behavioral Economics to Analyze Credit Policies in the Banking Industry," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3), pages 145-160.
    6. Dilger, Alexander, 2022. "Der Zufall in den Wirtschaftswissenschaften," Discussion Papers of the Institute for Organisational Economics 5/2022, University of Münster, Institute for Organisational Economics.
    7. Andreea-Ionela Puiu & Anca Monica Ardeleanu & Camelia Cojocaru & Anca Bratu, 2021. "Exploring the Effect of Status Quo, Innovativeness, and Involvement Tendencies on Luxury Fashion Innovations: The Mediation Role of Status Consumption," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-18, May.
    8. Alexander S. Sangare, 2005. "Efficience des marchés : un siècle après Bachelier," Revue d'Économie Financière, Programme National Persée, vol. 81(4), pages 107-132.
    9. Giuseppe Pernagallo & Benedetto Torrisi, 2020. "A theory of information overload applied to perfectly efficient financial markets," Review of Behavioral Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 14(2), pages 223-236, October.
    10. Jing-Yi Chen & Ming-Hui Wang, 2023. "A Study on Real Estate Purchase Decisions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-21, March.
    11. Stephan Schulmeister, 2000. "Technical Analysis and Exchange Rate Dynamics," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 25857, April.
    12. Paugam, Luc, 2011. "Valorisation et reporting du goodwill : enjeux théoriques et empiriques," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/8007 edited by Casta, Jean-François.
    13. Vivien Lespagnol & Juliette Rouchier, 2015. "What Is the Impact of Heterogeneous Knowledge About Fundamentals on Market Liquidity and Efficiency: An ABM Approach," Lecture Notes in Economics and Mathematical Systems, in: Frédéric Amblard & Francisco J. Miguel & Adrien Blanchet & Benoit Gaudou (ed.), Advances in Artificial Economics, edition 127, pages 105-117, Springer.
    14. Hall, Robert E & Mishkin, Frederic S, 1982. "The Sensitivity of Consumption to Transitory Income: Estimates from Panel Data on Households," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(2), pages 461-481, March.
    15. Kamil Saba & Janusz Kudła, 2014. "The impact of NBP’s interest rate changes on the changes and volatility of WIG20," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 37.
    16. Giuseppe Garofalo, 2014. "Irreducible complexities: from Gödel and Turing to the paradigm of Imperfect Knowledge Economics," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 3463-3474, November.
    17. repec:idn:jimfjn:v:4:y:2018:i:1f:p:1-16 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Thomas J. Brennan & Andrew W. Lo & Ruixun Zhang, 2018. "Variety Is the Spice of Life: Irrational Behavior as Adaptation to Stochastic Environments," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 8(03), pages 1-39, September.
    19. J. Doyne Farmer, 2002. "Market force, ecology and evolution," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 11(5), pages 895-953, November.
    20. Robert J. Shiller, 2003. "From Efficient Markets Theory to Behavioral Finance," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 83-104, Winter.
    21. Wright, Calvin & Swidler, Steve, 2023. "Abnormal trading volume, news and market efficiency: Evidence from the Jamaica Stock Exchange," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Finance; Behavioral Finance; Investment decisions; Anomalies; Heuristic JEL Classification : G11 ; G40 ; G41;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G40 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - General
    • G41 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making in Financial Markets

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ist:iujepr:v:9:y:2022:i:1:p:53-74. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Ertugrul YASAR (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ifisttr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.