ISSN: 2225-8329
Open access
Purpose. This study compares the independent contributions of financial literacy, religiosity, and debt financing to investment decisions among Sharia-oriented Indonesian retail investors. Design/methodology/approach. A cross-sectional questionnaire produced 440 eligible responses. Financial literacy, religiosity, debt financing, and investment decisions were specified as higher-order composites formed by three dimensions each. The model was examined using two-stage Mode-A partial least squares path modelling with 2,000 bootstrap resamples. Findings. Financial literacy was the dominant predictor of investment decisions (? = 0.771, p < 0.001), while debt financing had a small positive association (? = 0.080, p = 0.015). Religiosity did not retain a statistically significant independent association after the other predictors were controlled (? = 0.045, p = 0.301). The model explained 66.3% of the variance in investment decisions. Originality/value. The study places cognitive capability, religious orientation, and financing context in one parallel-effects model. It shows that ethical orientation and access to borrowed funds should not be interpreted as substitutes for broad financial capability, although the strong empirical overlap between financial literacy and self-reported investment decisions requires cautious interpretation.
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