Behavioral Finance in the Age of Technology: The Evolving Biases of Modern Investors
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54443/sj.v4i3.452Keywords:
Behavioral Finance, FinTech, Artificial Intelligence, Investor BiasesAbstract
The rapid integration of financial technology (FinTech), artificial intelligence (AI), and social media has transformed global investment behavior, reshaping the psychological dynamics of modern investors. This paper examines how digital technologies amplify behavioral biases such as overconfidence, herding, and recency bias within contemporary financial markets. Using a descriptive qualitative approach supported by literature synthesis and case studies, it explores the interplay between investor psychology and technological systems. Findings indicate that while FinTech platforms democratize access to financial markets, their gamified features and algorithmic personalization reinforce impulsive and emotionally driven trading. AI-based advisory systems, though designed to enhance decision accuracy, often introduce automation bias and confirmation loops that distort rational judgment. Social media ecosystems further accelerate herding and emotional contagion by promoting conformity through peer validation and viral sentiment. The study highlights ethical and regulatory challenges associated with behavioral exploitation and algorithmic transparency, emphasizing the need for robust investor protection frameworks and behavioral literacy programs. Ultimately, it concludes that technology in finance must balance innovation with responsibility, ensuring that digital tools empower investors without amplifying cognitive biases or undermining market integrity.
Downloads
References
Adil, Mohd, Yogita Singh, and Mohd. Shamim Ansari. 2021. “How Financial Literacy Moderate the Association between Behaviour Biases and Investment Decision?” Asian Journal of Accounting Research ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print). doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/ajar-09-2020-0086.
Ahmad, Maqsood, and Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah. 2020. “Overconfidence Heuristic-Driven Bias in Investment Decision-Making and Performance: Mediating Effects of Risk Perception and Moderating Effects of Financial Literacy.” Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences 38 (1): 60–90. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/jeas-07-2020-0116.
Ahmed, Shamima, Muneer M. Alshater, Anis El Ammari, and Helmi Hammami. 2022. “Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Finance: A Bibliometric Review.” Research in International Business and Finance 61 (101646). doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2022.101646.
Ahmed, Zeeshan, Shahid Rasool, Qasim Saleem, Mubashir Ali Khan, and Shamsa Kanwal. 2022. “Mediating Role of Risk Perception between Behavioral Biases and Investor’s Investment Decisions.” SAGE Open 12 (2): 215824402210973. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221097394.
Albayati, Hayder, Suk Kyoung Kim, and Jae Jeung Rho. 2020. “Accepting Financial Transactions Using Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency: A Customer Perspective Approach.” Technology in Society 62 (August). doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101320.
Ashta, Arvind, and Heinz Herrmann. 2021. “Artificial Intelligence and Fintech: An Overview of Opportunities and Risks for Banking, Investments, and Microfinance.” Strategic Change 30 (3): 211–22. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.2404.
Bhatia, Ankita, Arti Chandani, Rizwana Atiq, Mita Mehta, and Rajiv Divekar. 2021. “Artificial Intelligence in Financial Services: A Qualitative Research to Discover Robo-Advisory Services.” Qualitative Research in Financial Markets ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print). doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/qrfm-10-2020-0199.
Bhatia, Ankita, Arti Chandani, Rajiv Divekar, Mita Mehta, and Neeraja Vijay. 2021. “Digital Innovation in Wealth Management Landscape: The Moderating Role of Robo Advisors in Behavioural Biases and Investment Decision-Making.” International Journal of Innovation Science ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print). doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/ijis-10-2020-0245.
Cao, Longbing. 2020. “AI in Finance: A Review.” SSRN Electronic Journal. doi:https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3647625.
———. 2023. “AI in Finance: Challenges, Techniques, and Opportunities.” ACM Computing Surveys 55 (3): 1–38. doi:https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/3502289.
Duz Tan, Selin, and Oktay Tas. 2020. “Social Media Sentiment in International Stock Returns and Trading Activity.” Journal of Behavioral Finance 22 (2): 1–14. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/15427560.2020.1772261.
Ferreira, Fernando G. D. C., Amir H. Gandomi, and Rodrigo T. N. Cardoso. 2021. “Artificial Intelligence Applied to Stock Market Trading: A Review.” IEEE Access 9 (2169-3536): 30898–917. doi:https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2021.3058133.
Goodell, John W., Satish Kumar, Weng Marc Lim, and Debidutta Pattnaik. 2021. “Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Finance: Identifying Foundations, Themes, and Research Clusters from Bibliometric Analysis.” Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance 32 (1): 100577. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbef.2021.100577.
Gupta, Shilpi, and Monica Shrivastava. 2021. “Impact of Behavioral Biases on Investment Decisions: Moderating Effect of Preferred Sector of Investment.” Ramanujan International Journal of Business and Research 6 (1): 37. doi:https://doi.org/10.51245/rijbr.v6i1.2021.244.
Jain, Riidhi, Dipasha Sharma, Abhishek Behl, and Aviral Kumar Tiwari. 2022. “Investor Personality as a Predictor of Investment Intention – Mediating Role of Overconfidence Bias and Financial Literacy.” International Journal of Emerging Markets 18 (12). doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/ijoem-12-2021-1885.
Kim, A., Y. Yang, S. Lessmann, T. Ma, M.-C. Sung, and J.E.V. Johnson. 2020. “Can Deep Learning Predict Risky Retail Investors? A Case Study in Financial Risk Behavior Forecasting.” European Journal of Operational Research 283 (1): 217–34. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2019.11.007.
Königstorfer, Florian, and Stefan Thalmann. 2020. “Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Commercial Banks – a Research Agenda for Behavioral Finance.” Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance 27 (1): 100352.
Kumar, Satish, Dipasha Sharma, Sandeep Rao, Weng Marc Lim, and Sachin Kumar Mangla. 2022. “Past, Present, and Future of Sustainable Finance: Insights from Big Data Analytics through Machine Learning of Scholarly Research.” Annals of Operations Research, January. doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-021-04410-8.
LEE, Joseph. 2019. “Access to Finance for Artificial Intelligence Regulation in the Financial Services Industry.” SSRN Electronic Journal 21. doi:https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3493423.
Milana, Carlo, and Arvind Ashta. 2021. “Artificial Intelligence Techniques in Finance and Financial Markets: A Survey of the Literature.” Strategic Change 30 (3): 189–209. doi:https://doi.org/10.1002/jsc.2403.
Raut, Rajdeep Kumar. 2020. “Past Behaviour, Financial Literacy and Investment Decision-Making Process of Individual Investors.” International Journal of Emerging Markets 15 (6): 1243–63. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/ijoem-07-2018-0379.
Ritika, and Nawal Kishor. 2020. “Development and Validation of Behavioral Biases Scale: A SEM Approach.” Review of Behavioral Finance ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print). doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/rbf-05-2020-0087.
Saivasan, Rangapriya, and Madhavi Lokhande. 2022. “Influence of Risk Propensity, Behavioural Biases and Demographic Factors on Equity Investors’ Risk Perception.” Asian Journal of Economics and Banking 6 (3). doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/ajeb-06-2021-0074.
Shanmuganathan, Manchuna. 2020. “Behavioural Finance in an Era of Artificial Intelligence: Longitudinal Case Study of Robo-Advisors in Investment Decisions.” Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance 27 (March): 100297. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbef.2020.100297.
Shrotryia, Vijay Kumar, and Himanshi Kalra. 2021. “Herding in the Crypto Market: A Diagnosis of Heavy Distribution Tails.” Review of Behavioral Finance ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print). doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/rbf-02-2021-0021.
Singh, Shubhangi, Marshal M. Sahni, and Raj K. Kovid. 2020. “What Drives FinTech Adoption? A Multi-Method Evaluation Using an Adapted Technology Acceptance Model.” Management Decision 58 (8): 1675–97. doi:https://doi.org/10.1108/md-09-2019-1318.
Suresh G. 2021. “Impact of Financial Literacy and Behavioural Biases on Investment Decision-Making.” FIIB Business Review 13 (1): 231971452110354. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/23197145211035481.
Weixiang, Sun, Md Qamruzzaman, Wang Rui, and Rajnish Kler. 2022. “An Empirical Assessment of Financial Literacy and Behavioral Biases on Investment Decision: Fresh Evidence from Small Investor Perception.” Frontiers in Psychology 13 (September). doi:https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.977444.
Yousuf, Zakhiyya, and Daniel Makina. 2022. “The Behavioural Finance Paradigm and the Adaptive Market Hypothesis.” International Journal of Finance & Banking Studies (2147-4486) 11 (2): 34–48. doi:https://doi.org/10.20525/ijfbs.v11i2.1761.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Andreas Svoboda

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Results From Scopus: 80 Citedness




