Investment Behaviour of Engineers towards Mutual Funds: An Analysis of Gender Differences

There has been theoretical as well as applied evidence about gender differences in investment behaviour and investor perceptions. The present study investigates the important factors for choice of mutual funds and critically analyses the satisfaction level for various mutual fund schemes. Mutual fund is a retail product designed to target small investors, salaried people and others who are intimidated by the mysteries of stock market but like to reap the benefits of stock market investing. At the retail level, investors are unique and a highly heterogeneous group and their fund/scheme selections also widely differ. The study favours Asset Management Companies for designing suitable products to meet the changing financial needs of the investors. Thus, examination of a sample of 200 (83 females and 117 males) investor engineer respondents discerned the differences in the choice of mutual funds and its likely implications on future investment for male and female engineer investors. A higher level of awareness and satisfaction among the male respondents was observed in the study. The results of the study will have some useful implications for the engineers in selecting investment products and for Asset Management Companies for their product designing and marketing.