Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand the new kind of investors – women entrepreneurs – and to find out the factors that drive their investment behaviour and investment decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach of qualitative enquiry was used for the research in which 18 in-depth exploratory interviews were conducted to identify the determinants of the investment behaviour shown by women entrepreneurs, a growing segment in investment. The accumulated data was analysed using open coding.

Findings

The research show that women entrepreneurs consider investment as a long-term instrument are risk averse and quite conservative. They are willing to take risks in business but not for making investment decisions. The reasons for this low-risk behaviour include lack of time to understand investments and lack of knowledge about various products. The research asserts that if they spend time to be informed about the nuances of investment instruments, they are likely to take risks for their investments as well. The interviews also reflect that women entrepreneurs often mimic the investment behaviour of their parents.

Research limitations/implications

The sample for this research was taken from only two cities in India and a broader research in other cities as well will expand the understanding of investment behaviours demonstrated by women entrepreneurs. The differences in women entrepreneurs’ investment behaviour due to culture and ethnicity of the respondent are also not considered.

Practical implications

The outcomes of the research will help the investment manager to get a better insight into the psychology of women entrepreneurs as investors. This will help them develop personalized and relevant portfolio recommendations. Second, the findings will help service providers to develop training modules for their investment advisors by sensitizing them to needs and wants of women entrepreneurs as potential investors. Third, the research will be of interest for policymakers and researchers to understand the determinants of personal investment decision-making amongst women entrepreneurs. Finally, it will help women entrepreneurs understand and mitigate their biases while taking investment decisions. It will lead them to take wiser investment decisions, thereby reducing the risk and maximizing opportunities of returns.

Social implications

The research will provide opportunities for enhancing gender equality amongst investors. This can be achieved by educating the investment advisors on the traits and preferences of women entrepreneurs as investors. Designing and delivering specific workshops on investment awareness for women entrepreneurs can also be accomplished based on the findings of this research.

Originality/value

To the researcher’s best knowledge, the investment behaviour of women entrepreneurs in India has been little investigated. This study appears to be the first qualitative research attempt in that direction. This paper will be useful in understanding the behavioural biases by women entrepreneurs in considering their personal investment decisions.

中文翻译：

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女企业家的投资行为

目的

本文的目的是了解新型投资者-女企业家-并找出驱动其投资行为和投资决策的因素。

设计/方法/方法

定性探究的方法被用于研究中，该研究进行了18次深入的探索性访谈，以查明女企业家所显示的投资行为的决定因素，女企业家是投资中越来越多的领域。使用开放编码来分析累积的数据。

发现

研究表明，女企业家认为投资是一种长期手段，它规避风险并且相当保守。他们愿意冒险从事业务，但不愿意做出投资决定。这种低风险行为的原因包括缺乏时间来了解投资以及缺乏对各种产品的了解。该研究断言，如果他们花时间了解投资工具的细微差别，他们也有可能承担投资风险。访谈还反映出，女企业家经常模仿父母的投资行为。

研究局限/意义

该研究的样本仅来自印度的两个城市，其他城市的更广泛研究也将扩大对女企业家所表现出的投资行为的理解。还没有考虑由于受访者的文化和种族而造成的女企业家投资行为的差异。

实际影响

研究结果将帮助投资经理更好地了解女企业家作为投资者的心理。这将帮助他们制定个性化且相关的投资组合建议。其次，调查结果将通过使服务提供者了解女企业家作为潜在投资者的需求和需求，帮助服务提供者为其投资顾问开发培训模块。第三，该研究将对决策者和研究人员感兴趣，以了解女企业家中个人投资决策的决定因素。最后，它将帮助女企业家在作出投资决定时了解并减轻其偏见。这将使他们做出更明智的投资决策，从而降低风险并最大程度地提高回报机会。

社会影响

该研究将为增强投资者之间的性别平等提供机会。这可以通过对投资顾问进行关于女企业家作为投资者的特征和偏好的教育来实现。根据这项研究的结果，也可以为女企业家设计和举办有关投资意识的专门讲习班。

创意/价值

据研究人员所知，很少调查印度女企业家的投资行为。这项研究似乎是朝该方向进行的首次定性研究。本文将有助于理解女企业家在考虑其个人投资决策时的行为偏见。