IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jjrfmx/v16y2023i2p74-d1047396.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Determinants of Financial Risk Tolerance: An Analysis of Psychological Factors

Author

Listed:
  • Mahfuzur Rahman

    (Department of Finance and Economics, College of Business Administration, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates)

  • Mohamed Albaity

    (Department of Finance and Economics, College of Business Administration, University of Sharjah, Sharjah 27272, United Arab Emirates)

  • Tarannum Azim Baigh

    (Department of Economics and Administration, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia)

  • Md. Abdul Kaium Masud

    (Department of Business Administration, Noakhali Science and Technology University, Noakhali 3814, Bangladesh)

Abstract

Financial risk tolerance is a complex process that goes beyond the exclusive use of demographic characteristics. Despite the necessity of developing a comprehensive financial risk tolerance measurement model, the psychological factors that might be important have been long overlooked. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of psychological factors on financial risk tolerance level. The sample ( n = 1204) comprises university students from different parts of Malaysia. Significant financial risk tolerance differences are found as a function of gender and race. Students with high financial risk tolerance (FRT) are found to be positively correlated with the propensity for regret, the propensity for trust, the propensity to attribute success to luck, the propensity for overconfidence, and the propensity for social interaction, but not with happiness in life. These findings highlight the importance of individual propensities in assessing the financial risk tolerance level of a person. This study will act as an aid to financial advisors in understanding the behavior and attitudes of their clients.

Suggested Citation

  • Mahfuzur Rahman & Mohamed Albaity & Tarannum Azim Baigh & Md. Abdul Kaium Masud, 2023. "Determinants of Financial Risk Tolerance: An Analysis of Psychological Factors," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-12, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:16:y:2023:i:2:p:74-:d:1047396
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/16/2/74/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1911-8074/16/2/74/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Loomes, Graham & Sugden, Robert, 1982. "Regret Theory: An Alternative Theory of Rational Choice under Uncertainty," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 92(368), pages 805-824, December.
    2. Siegel, Frederick W & Hoban, James P, Jr, 1982. "Relative Risk Aversion Revisited," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 64(3), pages 481-487, August.
    3. Cohn, Richard A, et al, 1975. "Individual Investor Risk Aversion and Investment Portfolio Composition," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 30(2), pages 605-620, May.
    4. Andrew E. Clark & Orsolya Lelkes, 2009. "Let us pray: religious interactions in life satisfaction," Working Papers halshs-00566120, HAL.
    5. Ben-Ner, Avner & Halldorsson, Freyr, 2010. "Trusting and trustworthiness: What are they, how to measure them, and what affects them," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 64-79, February.
    6. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Gron, Anne & Winton, Andrew, 2001. "Risk Overhang and Market Behavior," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 74(4), pages 591-612, October.
    8. Morin, Roger A & Fernandez Suarez, Antonio, 1983. "Risk Aversion Revisited," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 38(4), pages 1201-1216, September.
    9. Ian Bateman & Alistair Munro, 2005. "An Experiment on Risky Choice Amongst Households," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 115(502), pages 176-189, March.
    10. Adem Anbar & Melek Eker, 2010. "An Empirical Investigation for Determining of the Relation Between Personal Financial Risk Tolerance and Demographic Characteristic," Ege Academic Review, Ege University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, vol. 10(2), pages 503-522.
    11. Martin Weber & Elke U. Weber & Alen Nosić, 2013. "Who takes Risks When and Why: Determinants of Changes in Investor Risk Taking," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 17(3), pages 847-883.
    12. Van de Venter, Gerhard & Michayluk, David & Davey, Geoff, 2012. "A longitudinal study of financial risk tolerance," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 794-800.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sandip Chattopadhyay & Ranjan Dasgupta, 2015. "Demographic and Socioeconomic Impact on Risk Attitudes of the Indian Investors - An Empirical Study," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(4), pages 601-623.
    2. Sandip Chattopadhyay & Ranjan Dasgupta, 2015. "Demographic and Socioeconomic Impact on Risk Attitudes of the Indian Investors - An Empirical Study," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 5(4), pages 601-623, April.
    3. Nicoletta Marinelli & Camilla Mazzoli & Fabrizio Palmucci, 2017. "Mind the Gap: Inconsistencies Between Subjective and Objective Financial Risk Tolerance," Journal of Behavioral Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(2), pages 219-230, April.
    4. Andreas Oehler & Matthias Horn, 2021. "Behavioural portfolio theory revisited: lessons learned from the field," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(S1), pages 1743-1774, April.
    5. Just, David R., 2011. "Calibrating the wealth effects of decoupled payments: Does decreasing absolute risk aversion matter?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 162(1), pages 25-34, May.
    6. Jakusch, Sven Thorsten, 2017. "On the applicability of maximum likelihood methods: From experimental to financial data," SAFE Working Paper Series 148, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE, revised 2017.
    7. Cherbonnier, Frédéric & Gollier, Christian, 2015. "Decreasing aversion under ambiguity," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 606-623.
    8. Bellante, Don & Green, Carole A., 2004. "Relative risk aversion among the elderly," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 269-281.
    9. Alessandro Bucciol & Raffaele Miniaci, 2011. "Household Portfolios and Implicit Risk Preference," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(4), pages 1235-1250, November.
    10. J. François Outreville, 2015. "The Relationship Between Relative Risk Aversion And The Level Of Education: A Survey And Implications For The Demand For Life Insurance," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 97-111, February.
    11. Chaigneau, Pierre, 2013. "Explaining the structure of CEO incentive pay with decreasing relative risk aversion," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 4-23.
    12. Mark J. Browne & Verena Jäger & Andreas Richter & Petra Steinorth, 2022. "Family changes and the willingness to take risks," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 89(1), pages 187-209, March.
    13. George Samartzis & Nikitas Pittis, 2022. "Dynamic Estimates Of The Arrow-Pratt Absolute And Relative Risk Aversion Coefficients," Papers 2211.03604, arXiv.org.
    14. Paya, Ivan & Wang, Peng, 2016. "Wealth fluctuations and investment in risky assets: The UK micro evidence on households asset allocation," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(PA), pages 221-235.
    15. Schooley, Diane K. & Worden, Debra Drecnik, 1996. "Risk aversion measures: comparing attitudes and asset allocation," Financial Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 87-99.
    16. Zandri Dickason-Koekemoer & Suné Ferreira, 2018. "Subjective Risk Tolerance of South African Investors," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 10(6), pages 286-294.
    17. Hongyan Fang & John R. Nofsinger, 2009. "Risk Aversion, Entrepreneurial Risk, and Portfolio Selection," Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance, Pepperdine University, Graziadio School of Business and Management, vol. 13(2), pages 25-55, Fall.
    18. J. Francois Outreville, 2014. "Risk Aversion, Risk Behavior, and Demand for Insurance: A Survey," Journal of Insurance Issues, Western Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 37(2), pages 158-186.
    19. Ricardo M. Sousa, 2007. "Wealth Shocks and Risk Aversion," NIPE Working Papers 28/2007, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    20. Ran Gu & Cameron Peng & Weilong Zhang, 2021. "The gender gap in household bargaining power: a portfolio-choice approach," IFS Working Papers W21/11, Institute for Fiscal Studies.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jjrfmx:v:16:y:2023:i:2:p:74-:d:1047396. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.