Behavioral factors affecting investment decisions: The sample of Libya

The aim of this study is to detect behavioral factors affecting investment decisionds of individual investors. Behavioral factors were represented by loss aversion, regret avoidance, mental accounting, representativeness, availability bias, overconfidence, anchoring, gambler's fallacy dimensions. As a data collection tool, it were used survey method, consisting 5-item demographic questions related gender, age, marital status, education level, professional experience, and containing 36-item behavioral factors scale. Reliability and validity analysis of the scale were performed. The sample of the study consists of 369 individual investors, who are active in the Libya Stock Exchange. As a result of the research, it was determined that representativeness, gambler's fallacy, availability bias and mental accounting dimensions have high impacts on investment decisions. Key Words: Investment decisions, behavioral finance, loss aversion, regret avoidance, mental accounting, representativeness, availability bias, overconfidence, anchoring, gambler's fallacy.