Investor decision making: an investigation of the modality effect

ABSTRACT

Information modality refers to the use of different sensory channels to process information when making decisions: for example audible or visual information. This study examines the impact of information modality on investors making financial decisions. A Repertory Grid analysis is performed to derive features and functionality to create an Amazon Echo Show system for financial decision-making. This system is used to present a mixture of both audio and visual information to facilitate financial decision-making. The system is tested through the lens of the modality effect to determine the best method of presenting financial data to investors to inform their decision-making. Findings show the inferiority of audible information over visual information for retail investors’ decision-making, especially for numerical data. However, with adjustments in information length and by prioritising non-numerical data, audible information could be of significant benefit when designing future systems to aid investor decision-making.

KEYWORDS:

• Financial decision making
• modality effect
• investors
• audio
• visual

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.