Influence of biasness on individual investor’s stock investment behaviour: A segmentation approach

An attempt has been made in this study to assess the behavioural biases influencing the investment behaviour of individual stock investors of Punjab. The heuristics or shortcuts that influence the individual investor towards making decisions related to day to day financial matters are required to be sought by the financial service providers. For the aforesaid purpose, the data has been collected through primary. survey by framing a questionnaire answered by 607 respondents from three districts of Punjab i.e. Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana. Four segments of investor’s were identified with the help of cluster analysis i.e. Intuitive Investors, Efficient Investors, Prudent Investors and novice investors. Significant differences were found among the four segments in terms of biasness in decision making and socio-demographic characteristics. The study provides implications for financial service providers who can take into account the differences in the decision making of different segments in order to help each segment of investors’ in improving their investment decisions.