Practical Views of Risk-Taking

Abstract

This article reports the results of a survey administered to undergraduate and graduate business students at two universities to assess their perception of risky situations that are not easily or directly translatable into conventional measures of probability. Significant differences are found between men and women in four of the five situations. Contrary to expectations, the greater the uncertainty of the consequences, and the less familiar the subjects are with respect to possible monetary and other repercussions, the riskier the subjects' choices are. The authors surmise that age, social status, and other factors as well may influence perceptions of risk-taking.