Title: Attribute-based perceptual mapping of mutual fund schemes: a study from an emerging market

Authors: Moonis Shakeel; Shivani Chaudhry

Addresses: Jaypee Business School, Sector 62, Noida, U.P., India ' Jaypee Business School, Sector 62, Noida, U.P., India

Abstract: The mutual fund industry in India has undergone considerable changes and is maturing over the years. The rationale behind the present study is to know the perception of financial advisors towards few selected equity mutual fund schemes. This study attempts to find that whether the perception of financial advisors is based on real numbers or personal preferences. The technique called multidimensional scaling (MDS) technique is used to figure out the perceptual map, on the given responses. The researchers have concluded that there is a gap between the perception of the financial advisors on the various attributes of the mutual fund schemes and the actual figures. Thus, to enhance the confidence of investors in mutual funds, the advisors must resort to proper technical and fundamental analysis of the schemes instead of following their personal preferences or biases.

Keywords: attributes; financial advisors; India; mutual funds; multidimensional scaling; MDS; perceptual mapping; perception; emerging markets; personal preferences; bias.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEBR.2015.070284

International Journal of Economics and Business Research, 2015 Vol.10 No.1, pp.81 - 103

Received: 08 Dec 2014
Accepted: 17 Feb 2015
Published online: 01 Jul 2015 *

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