The Determinants of Online Stock Investment in Malaysia: A Case in Early Phase of COVID-19 Pandemic

The purpose of this research is to determine the factors that affect the behavioral intention of Malaysians individuals to adopt online stock trading. The primary data is collected with the help of structured questionnaire from 285 participants in the study who are current or potential investors in the Malaysian stock market. The online surveys were distributed from the last quarter of 2019 to the first quarter of 2020. This study uses the structured and self-administered online questionnaire survey tool to collect the primary data from samples. Non-probability convenient sampling method was employed and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) is adopted. The results indicate that all constructs, namely performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), social influence (SI) and facilitating conditions (FC) have a direct significant positive relationship toward behavioral intention. In addition, the study shows that PE is the most important factor in determining individuals’ behavioral intention in adopting online stock trading. In conclusion, online stock trading system developer should focus on designing the additional useful features and ensuring the quality of the information to satisfy the demands and desires of the general public and to build features such as prompting traders to avoid the possibility of over trading or with feature enabling users to backtrack and test their trading strategies and to customize different types of analysis to help users making informed investment decisions.