Determining the factors affecting risk perception in the decision-making process: An application on individual investors

Investors make decisions under the influence of many factors, one of which is risky situations. In risky situations, individuals make decisions with the guidance of both their environment and their own personality traits and experiences. While some individuals spend a long time in the decision process, others can make decisions faster. In addition, the risks perceived by individuals and the effects of these risks may also differ. Individual investors are people who try to invest by saving their income. In investment preferences; it will be tried to examine the meaning they attach to the concept of risk, their behavior in risky situations, their personality traits, investment priorities, commitment to religious and cultural values, the effects of family structure and the meaning of their trust in the country's economy. This study aims to determine the factors affecting the risk perception of individual investors in their investment decision-making processes. In this study, interview, one of the qualitative research techniques, was used to evaluate risk perception in decision processes. The population of the research consists of citizens residing in Turkey and making individual investments. Individual investors residing in Konya were determined as the sample of the research. Considering the participant opinions as a result of the research, risk perception has an important place in the decision-making process of investors. It has been observed that investors consider risks when making investment decisions and that personal, environmental and financial factors affecting investment decisions are important. In addition, the participants stated that the opinions of their family members, their marital status, their profession, income level, and commitment to religious and cultural values have an important place when making investment decisions.