International Journal of Economics, Business and Accounting Research (IJEBAR)
Vol 9 No 4 (2025): IJEBAR, VOL. 09 ISSUE 04, DECEMBER 2025

FINANCIAL DETERMINANTS OF INVESTMENT DECISION-MAKING IN FRAUDULENT SCHEMES WITH SCAM AWARENESS AS A MEDIATING VARIABLE AND RISK TOLERANCE AS A MODERATING VARIABLE

Harjanto, Adara Mishel (Unknown)
Yusup, Adi Kurniawan (Unknown)



Article Info

Publish Date
01 Jan 2026

Abstract

This study explores how financial literacy, financial behavior, and financial stress influence investment scam awareness, as well as how this awareness shapes investment decisions among Generation Z in Indonesia. This study applies Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to explain how threat recognition and coping responses explain investors' behavior. Quantitative approach was used for this research with data sourced using an online questionnaire survey distributed to Generation Z investors in Indonesia through purposive sampling method. The data were evaluated using Structural Equation Modeling Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) using SmartPLS 4 to test the relationships between variables. The findings indicate that financial literacy has a positive and significant effect on investment scam awareness, allowing individuals to better recognize fraudulent schemes. In contrast, financial behavior and financial stress show no significant effect on awareness of investment scams. Furthermore, scam awareness does not directly affect investment decisions, but risk tolerance was proven to moderate this relationship. These findings show that although financial literacy improves scam awareness, investment decisions are also shaped by other factors. This work offers additional insight to existing literature by delivering a deeper understanding of how financial determinants shape investment decision-making in fraudulent investment contexts, especially among Generation Z investors in Indonesia.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

IJEBAR

Publisher

Subject

Economics, Econometrics & Finance

Description

International Journal of Economics, Business, and Accounting Research (IJEBAR) is a peer-reviewed, open access international scientific journal dedicated for rapid publication of high-quality original research articles as well as review articles in all areas of Economics, Business and Accounting. ...