Risk Propensity and Risk-Taking Behavior

Due to profusion of opportunities, varied trends of job market and perceived risk associated with career as Officer in Indian Armed force has made it unpopular and unattractive among many adolescents. Rapid economic growth and changing social norms in the society have certainly divided adolescents into aspirants and non-aspirants for this career choice. Career in armed force is characterised by its dynamic nature and pride associated with it. A study was carried out to investigate as whether risk taking behaviour has a role in aspiring to become armed force officer. Studies in past has revealed many factors affecting a career preference such as educational qualification, aptitude, intellect, father’s occupation, interest and many more. In this study risk taking behaviour has been investigated between aspirants and non-aspirants. The result showed that aspirants have more risk taking behaviour than non-aspirants especially in fire and military services areas which demands more risk t...

We examine the relationship between lateral preference, the Five-Factor Model of personality, risk-taking propensity, and maverickism. We take an original approach by narrowing our research focus to only functional aspects of maverickism. Results with 458 full-time workers identify lateral preference as a moderator of the neuroticismmaverickism relationship. Extraversion, openness to experience, and low agreeableness were also each found to predict maverickism. The propensity of individuals high in maverickism to take risks was also found to be unaffected by task feedback. Our results highlight the multifaceted nature of maverickism, identifying both personality and task conditions as determinants of this construct.

Substance abuse is a global issue. In Malaysia data have shown that substance abuse scenario among adolescent is increased 9.25 per cent a year. This problem also has become a major challenge in the field of mental health and promoting health among young people. This study aims to examine the influence of social environmental factors towards substances abuse behavior among adolescent in Malaysia. This study employed cross-sectional quantitative study using stratified random sampling to select respondents (N=480) from the population of at risk youth whom reported to be involved in substance abuse. Respondents aged were between 13-17 years and majorities are male. Two instruments were used namely self-administered survey questionnaires adapted from National Longitudinal Study (NELS) by Hoffman (2006) and Youth Risks Behavior Surveillance Questionnaire (YRBSQ) by Eaton et al. (2010). The results of the study showed that variables in social environmental factors (i.e. risk variables in school can explain 45.5 percent from the total variance in risk behavior of substance abuse as the dominant predictor. The results also showed that the regression model of variables focusing on personal, family and social-environment is significant, which imply that these factors are the core causes of substance abuse and problem of recidivism among adolescent. In overall, the results gives a clear picture that the social environmental factors are the most important element to be highlighted in designing intervention program and developing relevant module in substance abuse prevention. The implication of this study implies that social environmental factors such as school and community engagement is important to be consider in any substance abuse program.

Buyers often make supplier selection decisions under conditions of uncertainty. While the analytical aspects of supplier selection are well developed, the psychological aspects are less so. This paper uses supply chain management and behavioral decision theories to propose that attributes of the purchasing situation (category difficulty, category importance, and contingent pay) affect cognition that, in turn, affects a supply manager’s choice. We conducted a supplier selection behavioral experiment with practicing managers to test the model’s hypotheses. When the context involves an important or difficult sourcing category, higher risk perceptions exist that increase preference for a supplier with more certain outcomes, even when that choice has a lower expected payoff. However, the presence of contingent pay decreases risk perceptions through higher perceived supplier control. We also find that a manager’s risk propensity increases preferences for a supplier with less certain outcomes regardless of perceived risk. Our model and results provide a theoretical framework for further study into the cognitive aspects of supplier selection behavior and provide insight into biases that influence practicing supply chain managers.

This paper reports evidence to support a relationship between risk propensity, risk perception, and risk-taking behaviour of investors in an emerging market. Primary data were gathered using a validated structured questionnaire, which was self-administered by respondents: there were 162 investors from 8 stockbroking companies. A multiple regression was used to test the direct and indirect effects of the identified behavioural characteristics on investment decision. Risk propensity was found to be positively related to risk-taking behaviour whereas risk perception was negatively related to risk-taking behaviour. It was further found that risk perception partially mediates the effect of propensity to take risk. This suggests that the perceptual framing of a situational context in the investors’ thought processes reduces but it does not totally overwhelm the innate personality traits with respect to either the investor’s risk-seeking or risk-averseness. The tendency to engage in risky ...

Purpose of this study was to check relationship
between illegal downloading and individual
Ethics and find the Impact of illegal
downloading, risk behavior and downloading
attitudes on student’s ethics. Advanced
technology has opened the way for the growth
Piracy of software, piracy E-book and illegal
downloading.

This study investigates the effect of family firm on corporate performance and financial policy (capital structure, cash holding, and cash dividends). Using a sample of Brazilian firms, the study uses a treatment effect model to address self-selection and endogeneity problems. The results show that family firm has a negative net effect on performance. Family control have a effect on financial policies that indicate an aversive behavior to preserve control. The results indicate less problem of free cash flow and more risk-taking behavior in family-manage companies, suggesting that such aversion behavior is reduced when the family controls and manages the firm. This is the first study that takes into account the effect of family firm behavior through multiple financial policies.

ABSTRACT This paper examines one of three key findings from a recently completed PhD enquiry entitled, Architecture Live Projects: acquiring and applying missing practice-ready skills.1 Through a mixed methods approach that consolidated evidence from outside as well as inside architecture and academia, the thesis examined to what extent Live Projects enable students to gain risk management & ambiguity tolerance capabilities. This paper principally considers why these skills are important to
today’s graduating architecture students and how they might acquire them. By asking respondents about their experiences of exposure to, or experience of, risk management and ambiguity tolerance, the study also identified what risk was perceived to be in architecture education and practice.
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/arched/char/2015/00000002/00000001/art00003

Due to profusion of opportunities, varied trends of job market and perceived risk associated with career as Officer in Indian Armed force has made it unpopular and unattractive among many adolescents. Rapid economic growth and changing social norms in the society have certainly divided adolescents into aspirants and non-aspirants for this career choice. Career in armed force is characterised by its dynamic nature and pride associated with it. A study was carried out to investigate as whether risk taking behaviour has a role in aspiring to become armed force officer. Studies in past has revealed many factors affecting a career preference such as educational qualification, aptitude, intellect, father’s occupation, interest and many more. In this study risk taking behaviour has been investigated between aspirants and non-aspirants. The result showed that aspirants have more risk taking behaviour than non-aspirants especially in fire and military services areas which demands more risk t...

This study examines changing patterns of past-year heroin use and heroin-related risk behaviors among individuals with nonmedical use of prescription opioids (NMUPO) by racial/ethnic groups in the United States. We used data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from 2002 to 2005 and 2008 to 2011, resulting in a total sample of N=448,597. Past-year heroin use increased among individuals with NMUPO and increases varied by frequency of past year NMUPO and race/ethnicity. Those with NMUPO in the 2008-2011 period had almost twice the odds of heroin use as those with NMUPO in the 2002-2005 period (OR=1.89, 95%CI: 1.50, 2.39), with higher increases in non-Hispanic (NH) Whites and Hispanics. In 2008-2011, the risk of past year heroin use, ever injecting heroin, past-year heroin abuse or dependence, and the perception of availability of heroin increased as the frequency of NMUPO increased across respondents of all race/ethnicities. Individuals with NMUPO, particularly non-...

Sub-Saharan Africa is challenged and blessed with a dynamic mix of formal and informal sectors, laced with effective and ineffective layers of individual and collective entrepreneurial behaviour and action. With Africa's population projected to grow to 2.4 billion by 2050, over 70% under the age of 30 years old, with 60% in cities and towns, there is an urgent need for more social enterprises and entrepreneurial businesses, operating across the continent to creatively deliver relevant solutions, often under resource constraints not experienced in more industrialized economies, to the multitude of needs of the people and sectors of the continent-some of which are in education, healthcare, employment, sanitation and water, security, food security, electricity, transportation, and housing. Many list the continent's numerous contextual factors as reasons for not fully understanding how to overcome the social challenges and the justification for inaction, i.e., poverty, unemployment, inequality, discrimination, legacies of colonialism, resource ownership by foreigners and foreign powers, lack of service delivery and institutional failures-local, regional and pan-African institutional failures.

Being entrepreneurial is not necessarily about creating entirely new business models only, but about understanding the context, the social needs, the environment, supply efficiency and security, the socioeconomic layout, knowing the pain points for a community and society, and seeking to relieve some or all of that pain by stepping into the available gaps/opportunities. When discussing B Corps in the book, we explain why it is essential that the B Corps movement on the African continent be driven by an unwavering commitment to local communities by creating relationships of mutual trust between companies/entrepreneurial ventures and the local context. There are many diverse communities, as well as formal and informal economies, in Africa that work well. For example, there are various rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs), e.g., the well-known stokvels in South Africa, that support economic empowerment and community upliftment, and may help to support inclusive business practices.

The presented economic ecosystems perspectives, in our book, offer holistic, conceptual frameworks that can help bridge the formal-informal sector divide, help make sense of the continuous and necessary adaptations, and can shine a light on and engender multi-level economic activity that is required for the African continent. The informal sector and quasi-informal sectors, in particular, have not received the necessary attention in research and publications-odd, given the importance of these sectors for providing employment and survival, and the fact that a significant number of successful, and large-scale, businesses in African contexts began their operations either as family-run entrepreneurial businesses and/or began within the informal sector. According to Musara and Nieuwenhuizen: “Informal sector entrepreneurship
activities contribute 10-20% of the GDP in developed countries and up to 60% in developing economies. In South Africa, the informal sector accounts for 15-17% of total employment and about 5.2% of the country’s GDP”. Throughout the multiple chapters in the book, we recognize and discuss the importance of place and spatial
boundaries/constraints, cross-cultural boundaries/constraints, values boundaries/constraints, ethno-racial boundaries/constraints, cognitive and knowledge boundaries/constraints, boundaries/constraints of intention, leader and managerial boundaries/constraints, as well as time boundaries/constraints – an understanding of which is quite important if one wants to appropriately address the entrepreneurial challenges of the continent.

The present study aimed at exploring the interplay between EFL students' risk-taking propensity level and their gender differences to discover how it impacts the quality of their performances on multiple-choice tests. To this end, a sample of 120 male and female students were randomly selected from an initial population of 250 senior EFL students studying translation at Islamic Azad University of Isfahan (Khorasgan). All targeted participants were homogeneous in that they had all passed the same requirements and credit units. Based on the responses provided by the targeted sample to a modified version of Skaar's [21] Adolescent Exploratory and Risk Behavior Rating Scale (AERRS), they were divided into two groups with different risk-taking propensity levels; i.e., strong and weak. After a period of two weeks, a TOFEL paper-based test (PBT) was administered to the respondents. The results revealed that the number of items on multiple-choice test unanswered by the females was higher than those by the males. Interestingly, the findings may have important implications for teachers and test developers concerning test-takers gender differences and their willingness to guess.

Objective. This study investigates the clustering of a broad range of health-compromising and delinquent behaviors. We examine whether these behaviors belong to a single but broad cluster, 'risk-taking behavior', and whether the nature and degree of clustering in adolescents differs from that in adults.

Poor performance is an indicator of the fact the routines of the organization are not well aligned with the environment and therefore serves as a signal for decision makers that solutions are needed. However, there are conflicting results regarding how this search for solutions influences the risk behaviour of firms. Namely, executives in some firms tend to take more risks when performance falls below their aspirations, while other managers in the same situation react risk averse. In an attempt to reconcile this contradicting results, the current study examines characteristics of top managers drawn from the upper echelons theory that are expected to moderate risk taking when performance falls short. First, I argue that longer-tenured top managers are less capable of information processing and more committed to status quo, and hence that performance below aspirations constraints risk taking in these cases. Second, I suggest that firms with older top managers are less likely to take risks when performance falls short since they have decreasing cognitive abilities and an increasing commitment to established ways of doing things. Third, I also argue that female executives are more risk averse than their male colleagues, and hence that performance shortfalls lead to less risk taking when firms have a high number of female top managers. The results, however, showed no significant support for these hypotheses, but in contrast to what was expected, longer-tenured executives were found to actually take more risks when performance falls short compared to the firm's own past results. In this sense, the findings provide new insights and valuable contributions to theory and practice, as well as opportunities for future research.

This study examines changing patterns of past-year heroin use and heroin-related risk behaviors among individuals with nonmedical use of prescription opioids (NMUPO) by racial/ethnic groups in the United States. We used data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) from 2002 to 2005 and 2008 to 2011, resulting in a total sample of N=448,597. Past-year heroin use increased among individuals with NMUPO and increases varied by frequency of past year NMUPO and race/ethnicity. Those with NMUPO in the 2008-2011 period had almost twice the odds of heroin use as those with NMUPO in the 2002-2005 period (OR=1.89, 95%CI: 1.50, 2.39), with higher increases in non-Hispanic (NH) Whites and Hispanics. In 2008-2011, the risk of past year heroin use, ever injecting heroin, past-year heroin abuse or dependence, and the perception of availability of heroin increased as the frequency of NMUPO increased across respondents of all race/ethnicities. Individuals with NMUPO, particularly non-...