THE INFLUENCE OF FINANCIAL INFLUENCERS AND THE FRAMING EFFECT ON INVESTMENT DECISIONS WITH FINANCIAL LITERACY AS A MODERATING VARIABLE. CASE STUDY: GEN Z IN SEMARANG CITY

Authors

  • Muhammad Haidar Fayiz Semarang State University, Indonesia
  • Dwi Cahyaningdyah Semarang State University, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31959/jm.v15i3.4022

Abstract

Introduction: This study investigates the influence of financial influencers and the framing effect on investment decisions and examines the moderating role of financial literacy among Generation Z in Semarang City. The study is motivated by the increasing investment activity among Gen Z, who are typically exposed to financial content on social media and are susceptible to persuasion-based and framing-based behavioral bias.
Methods: This study utilized a quantitative descriptive research design, and data were gathered from 220 respondents via an online questionnaire (Google Form) using convenience sampling. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied in this study to examine the data.
Results: The findings show that financial influencers, framing effect, and financial literacy each positively and significantly affect investment decisions. Financial literacy significantly moderates (weakens) the effect of the framing effect on investment decisions, but does not significantly moderate the effect of financial influencers on investment decisions. These findings extend the empirical behavioral finance literature and offer practical contributions toward increasing financial literacy among Gen Z, enabling them to evaluate influencer-driven and framed financial information more critically.

Keywords: Financial Influencer, Financial Literacy, Gen Z, Herding Bias, Investment Decision

References

Agarwal, J. (2025). FOMO in Finance: How Finfluencers Reshape Investment Decisions of Gen Z in IndiA.

Ajzen, I. (1991). The Theory of Planned Behavior. In ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR AND HUMAN DECISION PROCESSES (Vol. 50).

Cantarella, S., Hillenbrand, C., & Brooks, C. (2023). Do you follow your head or your heart? The simultaneous impact of framing effects and incidental emotions on investment decisions. Review of Behavioral Finance.

Drach, V., Hayes, A., & Ben-Shmuel, A. (2024). The Gendered Language of Financial Advice: Finfluencers, Framing, and Subconscious Preferences. Journal of Consumer Culture.

Espeute, S., & Preece, R. (2024). The Finfluencer Appeal: Investing in the Age of Social Media. https://ssrn.com/abstract=4710330

Ferdinand, A. (2014). Metode Penelitian Manajemen: Pedoman Penelitian untuk Skripsi, Tesis dan Disertasi Ilmu Manajemen. BP Undip.

Gahlot, P., & al., et. (2024). Factors Influencing Investment Decision-Making in Generation Z. International Conference of Business and Social Sciences.

Hair, J. F., Risher, J. J., Sarstedt, M., & Ringle, C. M. (2019). A Primer on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Sage.

Hidayat, R., & Pertiwi, A. P. (2025). Psychometric Properties of the Resistance to Framing Scale: Evidence from Indonesia. Psikohumaniora: Journal of Psychological Research.

Hovland, C. I., & Weiss, W. (n.d.). The Influence of Source Credibility on Communication Effectiveness. In Source (Vol. 15, Number 4). Winter.

Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision under Risk. Econometrica.

Lusardi, A., Mitchell, O. S., & Curto, V. (2014). Financial literacy and financial sophistication in the older population. Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, 13(4), 347–366. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474747214000031

Mahmood, F., Arshad, R., Khan, S., Afzal, A., & Bashir, M. (2024). Impact of behavioral biases on investment decisions and the moderation effect of financial literacy; an evidence of Pakistan. Acta Psychologica, 247. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2024.104303

Mawarni, R. C., & Hendrawaty, E. (2025). The Influence of Financial Literacy on Investment Decision-Making Among Generation Z. In International Journal of Education (Vol. 5, Number 2). http://lpppipublishing.com/index.php/ijessm

Ngamchuea, K. (2023). The impact of financial literacy, financial technology, social environment, and lifestyle on financial management. Journal of Asian Finance.

Pandey, L. K., Singh, R., Baker, H. K., & Laskar, H. R. (2025). Beyond the Screen: How YouTube Influencers Shape Equity Investment Decisions. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research , 20(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/jtaer20010015

Prasad, B., & al., et. (2024). Fear of Missing Out (FOMO), Financial Literacy, and Social Media Intensity on Investment Decisions. Journal of Motivation.

Prasetyo, P., Sumiati, & Ratnawati, K. (2023). The impact of disposition effect, herding and overconfidence on investment decision making moderated by financial literacy. International Journal of Research in Business and Social Science (2147- 4478), 12(9), 241–251. https://doi.org/10.20525/ijrbs.v12i9.3026

Sarstedt, M., Ringle, C. M., & Hair, J. F. (2021). Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. In Handbook of Market Research (pp. 1–47). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05542-8_15-2

Son, H., & Park, S. (2019). The effect of financial literacy on financial behavior of young adults. Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business.

Sophia, J., Shrinivas, S. K., & Shetty, P. (2024). Impact of Financial Literacy on Investment Decision of Social Media Influencers. In Article in Tuijin Jishu/Journal of Propulsion Technology: X No. Y. https://propulsiontechjournal.com/index.php/journal/article/view/6677

Suci Martaningrat, N. W., & Kurniawan, Y. (2024). The Impact of Financial Influencers, Social Influencers, and FOMO Economy on the Decision-Making of Investment on Millennial Generation and Gen Z of Indonesia. Journal of Ecohumanism, 3(3), 1319–1335. https://doi.org/10.62754/joe.v3i3.3604

Umakanth, S., Kochar, R., Gandhi, H. D., Charan, G., Jain, M., & Jain, R. R. (2024). Analysis on Impact of Financial Influencers on Gen Z Investing In India. International Journal of Finance and Banking Research.

Downloads

Published

2026-09-02

Issue

Vol. 15 No. 3 (2026): Jurnal Maneksi (Management Ekonomi Dan Akuntansi)

Section

Articles

Citation Check

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Muhammad Haidar Fayiz, Dwi Cahyaningdyah

Creative Commons License

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

Access and Licensing

All articles published in Jurnal Maneksi (Management Ekonomi Dan Akuntansi) are available immediately upon publication without any embargo period. No registration or subscription fees are required to access our content.

To facilitate clarity and ease of reuse, Jurnal Maneksi (Management Ekonomi Dan Akuntansi) adopts Creative Commons licenses. By default, all articles are published under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0). This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that proper attribution is given to the original author(s) and source.

Copyright Policy

Authors publishing in Jurnal Maneksi (Management Ekonomi Dan Akuntansi) retain copyright over their work. By submitting and publishing with Jurnal Maneksi (Management Ekonomi Dan Akuntansi), authors grant the journal the right of first publication under their chosen open-access license. This ensures that authors maintain full control over their intellectual property while enabling broad dissemination and reuse of their work.

Authors are also encouraged to:

  1. Share their published articles in institutional repositories or personal websites, ensuring proper acknowledgment of initial publication in Jurnal Maneksi (Management Ekonomi Dan Akuntansi).
  2. Enter into non-exclusive agreements for further distribution, such as including their articles in books or other publications.