Determinants of Investors’ Decision-Making Toward E-Trading Platforms: An Empirical Study

Abstract

The rapid proliferation of electronic trading (e-trading) platforms has fundamentally transformed the landscape of retail investing and financial market participation worldwide. This empirical study investigates the perceptions and decision-making behaviors of investors toward e-trading platforms, focusing on the critical dimensions of platform usability, security and trust, perceived investment returns, and information quality. A structured questionnaire survey was administered to a purposive sample of 150 active retail investors, and data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics through descriptive statistics, reliability analysis (Cronbach's Alpha), and multiple regression analysis. The findings reveal that platform usability (β = 0.318, p < .001) emerges as the strongest predictor of investor decision-making behavior, followed by security and trust (β = 0.274, p < .001), perceived investment returns (β = 0.249, p < .001), and information quality (β = 0.189, p < .05). The overall regression model explains 62.6% of the variance in investor decision-making behavior (R² = 0.626, Adjusted R² = 0.615, F(4,145) = 60.47, p < .001). These results carry significant implications for platform developers, financial service providers, and regulatory bodies seeking to improve investor engagement and foster responsible digital investment ecosystems. The study contributes to the growing body of literature on financial technology (FinTech), Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and behavioral finance by providing empirically grounded insights from an emerging market context.