Sharma Abhishek, Hewege Chandana, Perera Chamila
Institute of Health and Management (IHM Australia), Melbourne, VIC 3051, Australia.
School of Business, Law & Entrepreneurship, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, VIC 3122, Australia.
Behav Sci (Basel). 2025 Jan 10;15(1):58. doi: 10.3390/bs15010058.
The paper aims to examine the relationships between behavioural biases (such as overconfidence and herding) and the rational behaviour of Australian female consumers when making financial decisions. In doing so, the paper showcases the financial illiteracy of Australian female consumers when confronted with irregularities within the Australian financial markets. From a theoretical standpoint, the study adopts the notions of the adaptive market hypothesis (AMH) to understand the reasoning behind the relationships between behavioural biases (such as overconfidence and herding) and the rational behaviour of Australian female consumers when making decisions rationally. Using a quantitative approach, a structural equation modelling (SEM) was conducted on the proposed theoretical framework with a cleaned dataset of 357 Australian female consumers, which revealed that behavioural biases significantly influence each stage of rational decision-making when making financial decisions. More precisely, the structural equation modelling (SEM) showcases that herding behaviour has a significant positive relationship with the information search and evaluation of alternative stages when making financial decisions. However, overconfidence behaviour has a significant negative relationship with demand identification and evaluation of alternative stages when making financial decisions. Moreover, the findings also showcase that the proposed theoretical model closely fits with the data utilised, indicating that Australian female consumers do follow rational decision-making when making financial decisions. Additionally, the findings revealed that the education and income levels of Australian female consumers positively influence the stages of rational decision-making. The findings also contend that Australian female consumers have a risk-averse attitude (i.e., within three key hypothetical scenarios) towards financial decisions due to the presence of financial illiteracy. Hence, it is strongly suggested that financial institutions highlight the calculative benefits and returns from financial product purchases in advertising and promotions in a way that appeals to female consumer segments.
本文旨在研究行为偏差（如过度自信和羊群效应）与澳大利亚女性消费者在做出财务决策时的理性行为之间的关系。在此过程中，本文展示了澳大利亚女性消费者在面对澳大利亚金融市场违规行为时的金融知识匮乏。从理论角度来看，该研究采用适应性市场假说（AMH）的概念，以理解行为偏差（如过度自信和羊群效应）与澳大利亚女性消费者在理性决策时的理性行为之间关系背后的推理。采用定量方法，对所提出的理论框架进行了结构方程建模（SEM），使用了357名澳大利亚女性消费者的清理数据集，结果表明行为偏差在做出财务决策时对理性决策的各个阶段都有显著影响。更确切地说，结构方程建模（SEM）表明，羊群行为在做出财务决策时与信息搜索和替代阶段评估之间存在显著的正相关关系。然而，过度自信行为在做出财务决策时与需求识别和替代阶段评估之间存在显著的负相关关系。此外，研究结果还表明，所提出的理论模型与所使用的数据紧密拟合，这表明澳大利亚女性消费者在做出财务决策时确实遵循理性决策。此外，研究结果显示，澳大利亚女性消费者的教育和收入水平对理性决策阶段有积极影响。研究结果还认为，由于存在金融知识匮乏，澳大利亚女性消费者在财务决策方面（即在三个关键假设情景下）持风险厌恶态度。因此，强烈建议金融机构在广告和促销中突出金融产品购买的计算收益和回报，以吸引女性消费群体。
