Herd Behaviour Manifestation in Share Market: A Gender Based Study

Abstract

Investment in shares is growing rapidly in India either directly or indirectly. Although the number of investors has risen, the knowledge and expertise needed for making share investment decisions is lacking among most of the investors. Investment process is also influenced by various psychological factors. These psychological factors are critical in the investment decision making process. Herd behaviour is an investment bias which investors in share market adopt mostly during complex investment situations. Behavioural finance identified this bias as one of the causes for bubble formation in the share market, which creates a deviation in the market price from its fundamental value. This paper has studied the differences in the level of herd behaviour between males and females in respect to share investment decisions. The study found no significant difference between herd behaviour manifestation between males and females.