Title: Investor behaviour in an environment of uncertainty: the impact of persuasion on investor decisions

Authors: Cleber Broietti; Suliani Rover; Graça Maria do Carmo Azevedo

Addresses: Paraná State University, 5021 Minas Gerais Avenue, Apucarana, PR, 86813-250, Brazil ' Engenheiro Agronômico Andrei Cristian Ferreira, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, SC, 88040-900, Brazil ' Associação Humanitária dos Bombeiros Voluntários de Aveiro, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, 3810-902, Portugal

Abstract: The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of investor persuasion in an environment of uncertainty. The experimental method was used, with 576 non-professional investors. The experiment used a 2 × 2 factorial, for these six different scenarios were elaborated with the manipulation of the following variables: environment of uncertainty, characterised by risk and ambiguity; and, the persuasive argument of authority. The analysis technique used was the binomial test. The results showed that the investors' choices are more persuasive in: 1) risky investments than in investments with ambiguity; 2) reports of analysts whose element of authority is present than in reports in which they do not present persuasive elements; 3) environments of uncertainty. The research contributed to the literature on investor behaviour when exposed to ambiguity and risk.

Keywords: investor behaviour; environment of uncertainty; investor decision; persuasion; ambiguity; risk; authority; binomial test.

DOI: 10.1504/IJADS.2022.126099

International Journal of Applied Decision Sciences, 2022 Vol.15 No.6, pp.663 - 680

Received: 02 Mar 2021
Accepted: 29 Jun 2021
Published online: 11 Oct 2022 *

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