Big Five governance model: Gender differences in investment decision-making — The developing market study

Download This Article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This study aims to examine the impact of gender on individual investment decisions in the stock market. The data were collected from survey responses of individual investors in the Vietnamese stock market through both online and offline formats. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability analysis results, conducted using SPSS software, indicated that five personality traits (neuroticism, agreeableness, extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness) and risk perception contribute to differences in investment decisions between men and women. The findings suggest that the influence of all five personality traits on investment decisions is greater among female investors than among male investors, indicating that women’s decisions are more frequently affected by emotions and personality traits. Factors such as gender differences in risk perception and approach, education and investment experience, as well as investment objectives, may help explain these variations in decision-making. The results of this study imply that individual investors, brokers, securities firms, financial institutions, and policymakers can apply this model to develop investment strategies, business plans, and financial service offerings tailored to different types of investors based on their personality traits and risk perceptions.

Keywords: Investment Decisions, Risk Perception, Personality, Gender

Authors’ individual contribution: Conceptualization — T.T.P. and D.H.T.; Methodology — T.T.P. and D.H.T.; Software — N.T.N.H., P.M.C., and L.T.K.H.; Formal Analysis — N.T.N.H., D.H.T., and P.M.C.; Investigation — N.T.N.H. and L.T.K.H.; Resources — N.T.N.H. and P.M.C.; Data Curation — D.H.T.; Writing — Original Draft — T.T.P. and N.T.N.H.; Writing — Review & Editing — T.T.P. and P.M.C.; Visualization — D.H.T.; Supervision — N.T.N.H.; Project Administration — D.H.T.; Funding Acquisition — T.T.P.

Declaration of conflicting interests: The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

JEL Classification: G00, G30, G40

Received: 26.11.2024
Revised: 03.04.2025; 29.07.2025
Accepted: 19.08.2025
Published online: 21.08.2025

How to cite this paper: Phuong, T. T., Trang, D. H., Han, N. T. N., Chi, P. M., & Hoa, L. T. K. (2025). Big Five governance model: Gender differences in investment decision-making — The developing market study. Journal of Governance & Regulation, 14(3), 161–172. https://doi.org/10.22495/jgrv14i3art15