The Influence of Financial Influencers on Youth Investment Decisions: Evidence from Thrissur District, Kerala
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31305/rrijm.2026.CI.v11.n06.010Keywords:
Finfluencers, Youth investment, Trust, social mediaAbstract
Young people's engagement with financial information has undergone significant changes as a result of the rapid expansion of social media. As a result, financial influencers or finfluencers have emerged as important sources of investment-related advice. The study focuses on how financial influencers contribute to the investment-related choices made by youth in Thrissur district focusing specifically on the role of trust and content-related factors. Utilizing a sample of 100 young investors, the research investigates how content credibility, influencer experience, and consistency drive trust and behavioral change. The study utilizes reliability analysis, correlation analysis, regression analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and non-parametric tests to evaluate the collected data. The results indicate that finfluencer-generated content exerts a significant positive influence on the investment decisions of young investors, supporting previous research that emphasizes the role of social media-based financial content in shaping investment behaviour.(Khoirotunnisa, 2024; Baviskar, 2025). Trust in finfluencers is largely shaped by the audience’s perception of their personal expertise, real-life investment experience, and consistency in content delivery. In contrast, demographic characteristics such as age, gender, educational background, and income level were found to have no significant effect on investment decision-making. These findings are consistent with the studies conducted by Bhatt and Bhatt (2025) and Vyas et al. (2025), which similarly reported that investor behaviour is influenced more by content credibility than by demographic factors. The findings emphasize the increasing role of finfluencers in influencing the financial attitudes and investment practices of young individuals, highlighting the importance of strengthening financial literacy initiatives and implementing effective regulatory measures to ensure responsible dissemination of financial information.
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