Social Influence as a Moderator of Cognitive Biases and Market Sentiment in Digital Gold Investment: Tring! Users in Denpasar

Digital gold micro-investment platforms have made gold accessible to retail investors, yet investment decisions on these platforms are not driven by rational fundamentals alone. This study examines the effect of heuristic behavior, market sentiment, and overconfidence bias on digital gold investment decisions, and tests whether social influence moderates these relationships among Tring! application users in Denpasar. A quantitative, causal-associative design was applied using a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire distributed through an online survey to respondents selected by purposive sampling (domiciled in Denpasar, active Tring! users for at least six months, and with a steady income). The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS. The results show that heuristic behavior, market sentiment, and overconfidence bias each have a positive and significant effect on digital gold investment decisions, and that social influence significantly strengthens all three relationships. The model explains 67.3% of the variance in investment decisions and shows strong predictive relevance (Q²predict = 0.588). These findings highlight the role of the social environment in amplifying the psychological drivers of investment behavior in digital micro-investment ecosystems.