| dc.description.abstract | Investment products refer to investment avenues available for savers in any market. Behavioral
finance and investment management literature show that investment products are influenced by
both financial and non-financial factors. Previous studies focus on individual investor investment
decision making processes in the developed economies. Kenyan investors have currently solved
the problem of sources of funds for investment and now faced with the problem of how to invest,
where to invest and when to invest. Currently, Kenya is ranked position 91 up from 108 in terms
of ease of starting a business. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to analyze factors
influencing the choice of investment products among firms listed in the Nairobi Securities
Exchange, the firms being the role model on professionalism and decision making. The study
was conducted between April 2015 and February 2016. Specific objectives of the study were to:
establish the influence of investments' financial information on choice of investment products;
determine the effect of the investment returns on choice of the investment products and to find
out the effect of third party opinions on the choice of investment products. The study is anchored
on prospect/loss- aversion theory. The study adopted a correlation research design. The target
population was all the 66 listed companies in Nairobi Securities Exchange which was obtained
using a census sampling technique. Primary and secondary .data was obtained using semistructured questionnaire and desk review respectively. Inter-rater reliability test was done using
pilot method on 10 companies' financial managers who were excluded from the final sample of
the study and a minimum threshold of 0.701 was met results being 0.789,0.705,0.850 and 0.765
among the tested constructs. Content validity test was done using expert reviewers. Data analysis
was done using Pearson's correlation and multiple regression analyses. The unit of analysis was
the companies listed in NSE. Data was presented using graphs and tables. The study findings
were that; financial information was a positive significant predictor of investment product choice
(~ = .353 (p = .000); investment returns was a positive significant predictor of investment
product choice (~ = .215 (p = .018) and third party opinions was a positive significant predictor
of investment product choice (~ = .449 (p = .000) implying that they are positive predictors of
investment product choice. The study recommends that prospective investors consider and
analyze financial information; investment returns and third party opinion to make prudent
investments | en_US |
