Aims: The study emphasizes the need for educational institutions to move beyond theoretical financial awareness and adopt experiential, confidence-oriented, and behavior-focused financial education models. The primary purpose of this study is to understand why non-finance students avoid engaging with investment-related knowledge despite having basic awareness of financial markets, and to examine how financial literacy, awareness, and domain perception influence such avoidance behavior. The study further investigates the role of financial literacy, financial awareness, and domain perception in shaping avoidance tendencies among students and further examines whether differences exist across academic specializations and gender. Research Approach: The study employs a quantitative, descriptive, and analytical research design. Primary data were collected from 150 MBA students in Nashik through a structured questionnaire using a 5-point Likert scale. Stratified convenience sampling was adopted to ensure representation across multiple specializations. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS through Cronbach's Alpha Reliability Test, Multiple Regression Analysis, One-Way ANOVA, Mediation Analysis using PROCESS Macro, and Chi-Square Test to evaluate relationships among variables and test the proposed hypotheses. Originality & Validity: This study offers a unique and empirically validated behavioral perspective on investment knowledge avoidance among non-finance students-an area that remains significantly underexplored in existing literature. Unlike conventional studies centered on financial participation, this research specifically identifies the psychological and cognitive mechanisms underlying avoidance behavior and establishes financial literacy as the critical mediating factor connecting perception and disengagement. The questionnaire was developed based on established concepts from behavioral finance and financial literacy literature, ensuring strong content validity. Expert review and pilot testing were conducted prior to final data collection to improve clarity, relevance, and consistency of the measurement items. The reliability and internal consistency of the instrument were verified using Cronbach's Alpha, which yielded a value of 0.715, indicating acceptable reliability for behavioral research. Construct validity was supported through the logical alignment between research objectives, variables, hypotheses, and statistical analysis. Conclusiveness: The regression model confirmed that behavioral variables collectively have a significant impact on avoidance behavior (p = 0.011), establishing the validity of the proposed conceptual relationship. The ANOVA results further established that avoidance behavior significantly differs across academic specializations (p = 0.022), demonstrating that educational exposure and academic orientation influence students' engagement with financial concepts. The mediation analysis strengthened the analytical depth of the study by confirming full mediation of financial literacy between domain perception and avoidance behavior. Additionally, the chi-square analysis confirmed that gender does not significantly influence avoidance behavior (p = 0.485), reinforcing the conclusion that psychological and knowledge-based factors are more dominant determinants than demographic variables. Statistical significance was evaluated at a 5% significance level, ensuring scientific rigor and accuracy in hypothesis testing. The consistency of findings across different analytical techniques strengthens the overall validity and conclusiveness of the research.
Dialani et al. (Thu,) studied this question.