ANALYTICAL PROBLEM-SOLVING AND DECISION-MAKING (BUSA 5218A)
SYNDICATE ASSIGNMENT – 2025
INSTRUCTIONS
Purpose of this assignment
This assignment essentially assesses and helps students ability to gather and analyse data, in
this case, using various associational techniques in business statistics.
Background
Understanding the factors that influence investment decisions has become increasingly
important in today’s dynamic financial environment. Traditional economic theories assume
that investors are rational and always make decisions to maximise utility. However,
contemporary research suggests that psychological and behavioural factors play a significant
role in shaping financial decisions. Among these factors, money attitudes - individuals’
emotional and cognitive orientations toward money - have been identified as critical in
determining how people save, spend, or invest. These attitudes often develop from personal
experiences, cultural values, and socio-economic background, influencing one’s financial
confidence and risk tolerance.
In addition, personality traits and consumer decision-making styles are psychological
constructs that further explain variations in investment behaviour across individuals. Traits
such as conscientiousness, openness to experience, and risk aversion have been linked to
different investment patterns, while decision-making styles - ranging from rational and well-
planned to impulsive or brand-loyal - also affect the way individuals choose among investment
options. This study, therefore, seeks to explore the influence of money attitudes, personality
traits, and decision-making styles on individuals’ investment decisions, offering deeper
insights into investor psychology and potentially informing financial advisory practices and
investor education programs.
Analysis guidelines
• Your report will be written for a business audience. Each syndicate will decide how to
define its audience. For example, you may decide to present to a specific company such
as Allan Gray or any investment company in South Africa that wants to understand how
these factors influence their client’s investment decisions. I will consider any creative
perspective, but you will need to get clearance from me before you start your analysis.
• Review the data set and decide how you want to focus your report.
• There are five main sections in the data. The first section of the questionnaire presents
the demographic information. Sections (B) to (E) discusses nine key construct: Money
Power/Prestige, Money Retention/Time, Decision Trait: Extender, Decision Trait:
INFOR MISER, Decision Trait: INDECISIVENESS, Extraversion, Openness,
Conscientious, and Tax-Free Investment purchase intentions. Each construct is
measured with different items.
• Your recommendations should provide strategic direction on how this company
approaches the issue of tailoring its products, services, and communication strategies
to different investor profiles.
Research questions
1. What are the basic characteristics of the sample? Essentially, this is a descriptive
analysis of the respondents. Who answered the survey, and what demographic
characteristics did they have? Provide implications for the descriptive results in relation
to the chosen context.
2. Indicate whether there is a statistically significant difference between age and gender;
ethnicity and level of occupation; level of education and gender. Cross-tabulations will
help.
3. What are the basic characteristics of each construct? This would be achieved through
frequency analyses and descriptive statistics of the items of each construct. Please
include the average mean of the items under each construct and the one-sample t-test is
used to determine whether each item differs significantly from the average score of 4.
4. How do each of the money attitudes influence individual investment decisions, and
what dimensions of money attitudes are most significant in this relationship? Here, we
can use regression analysis. First, a variable for each construct will be created by taking
their averages. Explain your results using the coefficient values and p-values.
5. To what extent do each of the personality traits affect investment decisions, and how
do these factors interact, and which dimension is most significant in the relationship?
Here, we can use regression analysis. But first, create a variable for each construct by
taking their averages. Explain your results using the coefficient values and p-values.
6. To what extent do each of the consumer decision-making styles affect investment
decisions, and how do these factors interact, and which dimension is most significant
in the relationship? Here, we can use regression analysis. But first, create a variable for
each construct by taking their averages. Explain your results using the coefficient values
and p-values.
7. Based on your findings, what practical recommendations can be made to investment
firms or financial service providers to better tailor their products, services, and
communication strategies to different investor profiles?
Synthesising your findings
Ultimately, you must clearly advise on the implications of your findings and whether
there are any actions that the firm should take. This is the most important section of
your report, and it is the one that the board or executive of your chosen company will
focus on.
REPORT WRITING
Write a Microsoft Word report on your study. It should include the following sections:
1. An introduction of the analysis (your research question/s, major focus constructs,
importance of the issue, context):
2. A concise section of some literature/theory on the issue/constructs discussed.
3. The Research Methods section, in which in separate sub-sections you should detail
a. The overall Research Design (just say its quantitative survey-based research),
b. Population and Sample: What is your population? What was the sampling method?
What is the sample we eventually got (here, give descriptive analyses of the
population’s characteristics, such as firm size and the like)?
c. The Measures (I suggest different paragraphs for each major construct in which you
describe how it was measured).
d. Limitations of the methodology.
4. The Results section: here give the major high-points of the statistical analyses. Mostly, you
will describe a test and why it is appropriate, give one or a few major core tables, and briefly
describe what they have found.
5. The Discussion section. Here, discuss your findings with regard to theoretical and practical
meaning and implications.
6. Strategic recommendations- What actions should be taken as a result of your research?
The overall length should be no more than 15 pages. You may include statistical outputs as
appendices or in the main documents. The font size should be 12. Turnitin’s score should not
be more than 20%.
Submission Deadline
Hand in – Wednesday 06 June 2025 @12:00 SAT