Exploratory Study of Behavioral Finance with Special Reference to Academicians of Private University in Indore City

Behavioral finance deals with the orientation of investor’s psychology while making financial decisions. It tries to understand how investors forget fundamentals and make investment decisions based on emotional appeal. While the traditional theory of finance states that investors are rational and follow sound logic while making investment decisions, behavioral finance states that their financial decisions are swayed by emotional appeals and past experiences. The present study explored investment orientation and behavior of individual investors. Broadly, four dimensions of individual investment behavior were found: Safe and Fixed Return Orientation, Long Term and Rational Orientation, Reliable and Family-Orientation and High-Risk Orientation. Findings have been analyzed based on gender and income. Gender-wise significant differences revealed in investment orientation towards familyoriented and reliability seeking investment behavior. Income-wise significant differences have been observed in the risk-taking behavior of individual investors.