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Jodi S. Goodman, PhD

West Virginia University

College of Business and Economics

Department of Management

1601 University Avenue

P.O. Box 6025

Morgantown, WV 26506-6025

Phone: (304) 293-7941

Fax: (304) 293-8905

Email: jsgoodman@mail.wvu.edu

I am looking for literature about measuring individual risk preferences and risk taking behaviors.  I know we have the measure "tolerance for ambiguity," but I'm not sure the concept of risk would be considered a topic in OB beyond the treatment it receive in the context of decision making and innovation.

 

I did find a textbook that had "Risk taking and Thrill Seeking Behavior" listed in a discussion of personality traits (in a list that included the Big 5), but I don't think it is considered a trait today. 

 

Does anyone in our field specialize in this topic?  I'd like to find a good solid review piece to get started, but am also interested in any assessment tools that exist.  Thank you,

 

Steve Farner

Associate Professor- Management

Bellevue University

Misty L. Loughry, Ph.D.

Professor of Management

Department of Management

Georgia Southern University

COBA Building Room 3349

P.O. Box 8151

Statesboro, GA 30460-8151

(912) 478-0756

www.CATME.org

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/misty-l-loughry/6/50/80

Hi Steve,

I've used the "General Risk Aversion Scale". 

 

Mandrik, C. A., & Bao, Y. (2005).  Exploring the Concept and Measurement of General Risk Aversion Advances in Consumer Research, 32, 531-539.

 

This is the measure, which you find at the end of the appendix in the paper.

 

 

D. General Risk Aversion Scale (From 1= "Strongly Agree" to 7= "Strongly Disagree")

1. I do not feel comfortable about taking chances.

2. I prefer situations that have foreseeable outcomes.

3. Before I make a decision, I like to be absolutely sure how things will turn out.

4. I avoid situations that have uncertain outcomes.

5. I feel comfortable improvising in new situations.

6. I feel nervous when I have to make decisions in uncertain situations.

 

Best wishes,
Misty

 

Misty L. Loughry, Ph.D.

Professor of Management

Department of Management

Georgia Southern University

COBA Building Room 3349

P.O. Box 8151

Statesboro, GA 30460-8151

(912) 478-0756

www.CATME.org

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/misty-l-loughry/6/50/80

 

 

From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv [mailto:OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of Steve Farner
Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2015 8:48 AM
To: OB@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
Subject: [OB-LIST] Risk Taking Behavior

 

I am looking for literature about measuring individual risk preferences and risk taking behaviors.  I know we have the measure "tolerance for ambiguity," but I'm not sure the concept of risk would be considered a topic in OB beyond the treatment it receive in the context of decision making and innovation.

 

I did find a textbook that had "Risk taking and Thrill Seeking Behavior" listed in a discussion of personality traits (in a list that included the Big 5), but I don't think it is considered a trait today. 

 

Does anyone in our field specialize in this topic?  I'd like to find a good solid review piece to get started, but am also interested in any assessment tools that exist.  Thank you,

 

Steve Farner

Associate Professor- Management

Bellevue University

Hi Steve, 

You may find the following paper relevant:

Hoffrage, U., Weber, A., Hertwig, R., & Chase, V. (2003). How to keep children save in traffic: Find the daredevils while they are young. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 11, 249–260.

We used two games to measure children's risk propensity, one involving luck (adopted from Slovic; this one was predictive of risk-taking behavior in a real-world situation) and one involving skill (which was not).

For your convenience, here is the abstract:
Crossing the street in front of oncoming vehicles poses serious danger to young children. But is each
young pedestrian similarly at risk? The authors aimed to identify children who are particularly prone to
making risky and potentially harmful crossing decisions. They used a simple game involving risk to
classify 5- to 6-year-olds as risk takers or risk avoiders. Children classified as risk takers made more
crossing decisions at a busy 1-way street than risk avoiders, tolerated shorter time intervals between
initiation of the crossing decision and arrival of the next vehicle, and were more likely to cause a
(hypothetical) accident. Finally, they made decisions more quickly than risk avoiders. The authors
discuss the implication of these results for traffic safety programs.

best,
ulrich

On 12.05.2015 14:47, Steve Farner wrote:

I am looking for literature about measuring individual risk preferences and risk taking behaviors.  I know we have the measure "tolerance for ambiguity," but I'm not sure the concept of risk would be considered a topic in OB beyond the treatment it receive in the context of decision making and innovation.

 

I did find a textbook that had "Risk taking and Thrill Seeking Behavior" listed in a discussion of personality traits (in a list that included the Big 5), but I don't think it is considered a trait today. 

 

Does anyone in our field specialize in this topic?  I'd like to find a good solid review piece to get started, but am also interested in any assessment tools that exist.  Thank you,

 

Steve Farner

Associate Professor- Management

Bellevue University

--   ========================================= Ulrich Hoffrage (Professor of Decision Theory and Risk) University of Lausanne Faculty of Business and Economics        (Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales; HEC) Batiment Internef CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland  Tel: +41-21-692-3490 Fax: +41-21-692-3305  email: Ulrich.hoffrage@unil.ch =========================================