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Giving advice under uncertainty: What you do, what you should do, and what others think you do

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  • Hadar, Liat
  • Fischer, Ilan

Abstract

The current paper examines whether advisors rely primarily on their personal beliefs and risk preferences or on their estimates of their clients' beliefs and risk preferences. The results of two studies show that risk preferences predicted for other individuals were more risk neutral than personal risk preferences under uncertainty, though no differences were found between personal beliefs and those attributed to other individuals. This suggests that advice that is based primarily on personal risk preferences may differ from advice which is based primarily on advisors' estimates of clients' risk preferences. The results of a third study show that advisors rely on their personal risk preferences when giving advice. Based on these findings we suggest that managers should be cautious in accepting advice concerning which alternative ought to be pursued, as advisors tend to instinctively rely on their own risk preferences, which may differ from the manager's actual risk preferences.

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  • Hadar, Liat & Fischer, Ilan, 2008. "Giving advice under uncertainty: What you do, what you should do, and what others think you do," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 667-683, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:29:y:2008:i:5:p:667-683
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    Cited by:

    1. Palmeira, Mauricio, 2020. "Advice in the presence of external cues: The impact of conflicting judgments on perceptions of expertise," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 82-96.
    2. Ginzburg, Boris & Guerra, José-Alberto & Lekfuangfu, Warn N., 2022. "Counting on my vote not counting: Expressive voting in committees," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    3. Leiser, David & Azar, Ofer H. & Hadar, Liat, 2008. "Psychological construal of economic behavior," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 762-776, November.
    4. Marina Psiloutsikou, 2016. "The added value of coaching compared to a friendly discussion: Insight from behavioral economics," International Journal of Business and Economic Sciences Applied Research (IJBESAR), International Hellenic University (IHU), Kavala Campus, Greece (formerly Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Institute of Technology - EMaTTech), vol. 9(2), pages 47-58, June.
    5. François Desmoulins-Lebeault & Luc Meunier, 2018. "Moment Risks: Investment for Self and for a Firm," Decision Analysis, INFORMS, vol. 15(4), pages 242-266, December.
    6. Kevin Mole & Robert Baldock & David North, 2013. "Who Takes Advice? Firm Size Threshold, Competence, Concerns and Informality in a Contingency Approach," Research Papers 0009, Enterprise Research Centre.
    7. Kevin Mole & David North & Robert Baldock, 2017. "Which SMEs seek external support? Business characteristics, management behaviour and external influences in a contingency approach," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 35(3), pages 476-499, May.
    8. Carina Thürridl & Frauke Mattison Thompson, 2023. "Making brand activism successful: How advice-giving can boost support behavior and reap benefits for the brand," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 685-696, December.
    9. Polman, Evan & Wu, Kaiyang, 2020. "Decision making for others involving risk: A review and meta-analysis," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    10. Andrea Leuermann & Benjamin Roth, 2012. "Does Good Advice Come Cheap?: On the Assessment of Risk Preferences in the Lab and in the Field," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 475, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    11. Roth, Benjamin & Voskort, Andrea, 2014. "Stereotypes and false consensus: How financial professionals predict risk preferences," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 107(PB), pages 553-565.
    12. Leuermann, Andrea & Roth, Benjamin, 2012. "Does good advice come cheap? - On the assessment of risk preferences in the lab and the field," Working Papers 0534, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.

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