Analysis of Behavioural Biases on Student Investment Decisions: The Moderating Role of Social Media Influencers

Abstract

Investment activity in Indonesia continues to rise, particularly among college students as part of the younger investor demographic. Investment decisions are not only based on rational considerations but are also influenced by psychological and social factors, as well as information from social media. This study employs the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to explain that investment decisions are influenced by attitudes and social influences, which in this study are reflected through overconfidence, risk perception, and herding behaviour. This study aims to analyse the influence of overconfidence, risk perception, and herding behaviour on investment decisions, with social media influencers as a moderating variable, among students at the Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran East Java. This study employs a quantitative approach using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method on 114 students who are clients of Galeri Investasi and were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected via a Likert-scale questionnaire and analysed using SmartPLS. The results indicate that overconfidence, risk perception, and herding behaviour significantly influence investment decisions. However, social media influencers do not moderate the relationship between these three variables and investment decisions. This study adds to the empirical evidence regarding the role of psychological and social factors in students' investment decisions and shows that social media influencers have not yet been able to strengthen that relationship.