Abstract
The increasing participation of young investors in Indonesia highlights the need to better understand the factors shaping university students’ interest in stock investment. This study addresses the inconsistent empirical findings regarding the effects of investment knowledge and risk perception on investment interest, as well as the limited explanation of the underlying psychological mechanisms. The objective of this research is to examine the influence of investment knowledge and risk perception on students’ stock investment interest, with return expectation as a mediating variable. This study employs a quantitative explanatory approach. The population consists of undergraduate Management students at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Mataram, who have completed Investment and Portfolio Management courses. A total of 92 respondents were selected using purposive sampling. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire measured on a five-point Likert scale and analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling–Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) with SmartPLS 4. The results indicate that investment knowledge and risk perception have a positive and significant effect on return expectations. Return expectation also positively influences stock investment interest and significantly mediates the relationship between investment knowledge, risk perception, and students’ investment interest. These findings imply that strengthening investment literacy accompanied by proper management of return expectations is essential to foster sustainable stock investment interest among university students.