Role of finfluencer advice across behavioral clusters in shaping sustainable finance

Finfluencers are on the rise in the social media space. This phenomenon is reshaping financial advice and affecting especially the highly digital-native clients. The effect of the unprecedented access to financial information is twofold: On the one hand, people’s concerns about decision making and the sustainability of financial decisions made in highly persuasive social media environments have grown. On the other hand, previous research has mainly been centred on finfluencers’ impact on investment intentions, with limited focus on the role of basic behavioural aspects on responses to different types of financial content, and how the latter relate to sustainable financial behavior. This study explores how trust, impulsiveness, and verification tendencies shape individuals’ preferences for budgeting and investment advice on social media. A survey of 357 Indian users, combined with K-means clustering, ANOVA, and thematic analysis, revealed that budgeting preferences vary across behavioral clusters, while investment preferences do not. Verification and trust predicted budgeting content preference, whereas impulsiveness reduced preference for structured advice. Simplicity, credibility, and emotional appeal drove trust. A typology categorizing advice formats was proposed. The study provides practical insights for finfluencers and educators on promoting sustainable financial practices. The findings of the study contribute to behavioral finance by integrating user behavior, content analytics, and qualitative insights.