Openness to Robot Financial Investment Recommendation Systems, among Users of a Hungarian Financial Portal

Abstract

In this article, we primarily examine the indirect and direct openness to robot recommendation systems based on a Hungarian survey conducted in 2019 on the financial habits of readers of Portfolio.hu (an online economic portal). We briefly introduce the broader theoretical background of our research (financial investment recommendation systems) and the structure of our survey (questionnaire blocks and data collection). Openness to both direct and indirect use (with a human advisor) of robot recommendation systems was asked about and analyzed. Over 1,500 respondents completed our questionnaire, and the connections between robot recommendation systems and other variables e.g., place of residence, age, subscription to digital services, visibility settings in social media and level of savings, were examined. In addition to the simple bivariate analysis, we also carried out a cluster analysis. Our research shows that roughly one in six respondents would be open on their own to a direct robot recommendation, however, many are uncertain, and many would only use the service with the support of human advisors. One of the most important results of our research is that young people, much the same as older people, are not automatically open to a robot recommendation system. Based on our results, it would be constructive to combine hard socio-demographic, digital cultural, and financial factors to create better robot recommendation systems. However, it should be considered that our research was conducted in Hungary with a target group more open to savings and financial investment (hence the research results require further examination).