Relative importance of various sources of information for equity investment decisions: a demographic study of Indian investors

The purpose of this paper is to comprehend the relative importance of various sources of information that different groups of investors rely upon while making investment decisions. The paper puts forth the specific significance of certain sources that might help understand the investor psyche of the various investor groups. Questionnaire-based survey research was conducted and responses of 276 respondents were analysed using descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests. The study reveals that while women investors relied more on advice from family, friends, and stockbrokers; investors who worked within the financial investment sector, preferred personal knowledge of the company and analysis and investors who took greater risks, made higher investments and stayed longer holding their stocks relied more on analytical decision-making based on corporate reports. These findings emphasise the benefits of investor profiling according to the various demographics and how it can help investment advisory firms to approach different investor groups.