Prior perceived losses and investment objectives after stock market crisis: a moderated-mediation model of risk tolerance and loss aversion

This study explores whether prior perceived losses affect investment objectives via loss aversion as a mediator and whether the indirect effect is moderated by risk tolerance in a moderated-mediation model. Using retail investors who witnessed a market crash in Bangladesh and experienced losses, the model is tested by employing regression analyses and conditional process. The analyses reveal that prior perceived losses indirectly affect investment objectives (earning a higher expected return and building a financial reserve for future expenses) via mediation of loss aversion. Moderated-mediation model shows that for high-risk-tolerant investors, prior perceived losses indirectly affect investors to invest more for achieving a higher expected return objective and less to achieving building a financial reserve for future expenses, via a low level of loss aversion. These suggest that risk-tolerant investors continue to invest to earn a higher expected return even though they experienced prior losses and are loss-averse.The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43546-022-00259-6.