The effect of assurance provider, level of assurance and personal characteristics on investment decision making in socially responsible investing / Hawariah Dal Nial

Hawariah , Dal Nial (2023) The effect of assurance provider, level of assurance and personal characteristics on investment decision making in socially responsible investing / Hawariah Dal Nial. PhD thesis, Universiti Malaya.

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Abstract

Assurance report for non-financial information such as sustainability reporting is no longer guaranteed on their quality which led to differences in individual investors’ investment decision making in socially responsible investing (SRI). This is much due to the report’s relative novelty and unregulated nature of practice reported by the company. While professional accountant plays a major role in assurance market, other professional also contribute to the proportion. Hence, this doctoral research endeavor extends the literature on type of assuror and the level of assurance by examining how they influence individual investment decision-making when they attempt to achieve the best environmental goals of their invested fund through evaluation of environmental reporting assurance options. An experimental research model proposed for this study in comparison of the most credible source of information by leveraging the premise of Source Credibility Theory. The goal of the study is to determine from individual investors point of view, which professional affiliation provide the significant difference between type of assuror and the level of assurance when they use them to make decision-making. The study also investigates the role of personal characteristics by using Big Five Inventory (BFI) measurement as possible moderator in the above relationships. The experiment was conducted on 315 participants recruited from investment class from Klang Valley. The data analysis was conducted by using Two-Way ANOVA for group comparisons in a factorial design approach, while the moderated-moderation effect was tested through Hayes Process Macro in SPSS (model 1 and 3). The findings show that there is a significant difference in the impact of different types of assurors and levels of assurance on individual investors' investment decisions in SRI. The difference remains significant in presence of different personality characteristic. This research also reveals that the relationship between the type of assuror and an individual's investment decision in SRI is moderated by both the level of assurance and the personality characteristics of the investor. This study further examines whether a significant moderated-moderation relationship exists in an integrated model with the type of assuror and individual investment decision in SRI. The findings of this experimental research suggest that type of assuror influence individual investment decision making when level of assurance and personality characteristics are combined to evaluate investment options.

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