Abstract
A comprehensive set of sixteen measures of willingness to take risks has been developed. This set includes measures from three categories: measures from standardized risky situations having an underlying theory of risk, measures inferred from revealed choices in financial decisions, and measures derived from attitudes. A study of over 500 top-level business executives shows significant relationships within categories, but relatively little relationship across categories. Context differences, especially personal versus business situations and opportunities versus threats, underlie the responses.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alderfer, C. P. and Bierman, H. Jr.: 1970, ‘Choices with risk: beyond the mean and variance’, Journal of Business, 43, 341–353.
Arrow, K. J.: 1951, Social Choice and Individual Values, Wiley, New York.
Arrow, K. J.: 1971, Essays in the Theory of Risk-Bearing, Markham Publishing Co., Chicago.
Bassler, J. F.: 1972, ‘The consistency of risk attitudes in decision making under uncertainty’, Ph.D. dissertation, Carnegie-Mellon University.
Bassler, J. F., MacCrimmon, K. R., and Stanbury, W. T.: 1973, ‘Risk attitudes of U.S. and Canadian top managers’, a paper presented at the meeting of the Fourth International Conference on Subjective Probability, Utility and Decision Making, Rome.
Bassler, J. F., MacCrimmon, K. R., Stanbury, W. T., and Wehrung, D. A.: 1978, ‘Multiple criteria dominance models: an empirical study of investment preferences’, in S. Zionts (ed.) Multiple Criteria Problem Solving, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Brichacek, V.: 1968, ‘Comparative analysis of decision processes’, Ceskoslovenska Psychologie, 12, 456–460.
Campbell, D. T. and Fiske, D. W.: 1959, ‘Convergent and discriminant validation by the multitrait-multimethod matrix’, Psychological Bulletin, 56, 81–105.
Cohn, R. A., Lewellen, W. G., Lease, R. C., and Schlarbaum, G. G.: 1975, ‘Individual investor risk aversion and investment portfolio composition’, Journal of Finance, 30, 605–620.
Cummings, L. L., Harnett, D. L., and Stevens, O. J.: 1971, ‘Risk, fate, conciliation and trust: an international study of attitudinal differences among executives’, Academy of Management Journal, 14, 285–304.
Fischhoff, B., Lichtenstein, S., Slovic, P., Derby, S., and Keeney, R.: 1981, Acceptable Risk, Cambridge University Press, New York.
Frederiksen, N., Saunders, D. R., and Wand, B.: 1957, ‘The in-basket test’, Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 71, 438.
Greene, M. R.: 1963, ‘Attitudes toward risk and a theory of insurance consumption’, Journal of Insurance, 30, 165–182.
Greene, M. R.: 1964, ‘Insurance mindedness - applications for insurance theory’, Journal of Risk and Insurance, 31, 27–38.
Hammond, J. D., Houston, D. B., and Melander, E. R.: 1967, ‘Determinants of household life insurance premium expenditures: an empirical investigation’, Journal of Risk and Insurance, 34, 397–408.
Hershey, J. C., Kunreuther, H. C., and Schoemaker, P. J. H.: 1982, “Sources of bias in assessment procedures for utility functions”, Management Science, 28, 936–954.
Hershey, J. C. and Schoemaker, P. J. H.: 1985, ‘Probability vs. certainty equivalence methods in utility measurement: are they equivalent?’ Management Science, forthcoming.
Higbee, K. L.: 1971, ‘Expression of ‘Walter Mitty-ness’ in actual behavior’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 20, 416–422.
Jackson, D. N., Hourany, L. and Vidmar, N. J.: 1972, ‘A four-dimensional interpretation of risk taking’, Journal of Personality, 40, 483–501.
Kahneman, D. and Tversky, A.: 1979, ‘Prospect theory: an analysis of decision under risk’, Econometrica, 47, 263–291.
Kogan, N. and Wallach, M. A.: 1964, Risk Taking: A Study in Cognition and Personality, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.
Kogan, N. and Wallach, M. A.: 1967, ‘Risk taking as a function of the situation, the person, and the group’, in G. Mandler (ed.) New Directions in Psychology, III, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York.
Kunreuther, H., Linnerooth, J., Lathrop, J., Atz, H., MacGill, S., Mandl, C., Schwartz, M., and Thompson, M.: 1983, Risk Analysis and Decision Processes: The Siting of LEG Facilities in Four Countries, Springer-Verlag, New York.
Laughhunn, D. J., Payne, J. W., and Crum, R.: 1980, ‘Managerial risk preferences for below target returns’, Management Science, 26, 1238–1249.
MacCrimmon, K. R. and Wehrung, D. A.: 1984, ‘The Risk In-Basket’, Journal of Business, 57, 367–387.
MacCrimmon, K. R. and Wehrung, D. A.: 1985, Taking Risks: The Management of Uncertainty, Free Press, New York, forthcoming.
Maehr, M. L. and Videbeck, R.: 1968, ‘Predisposition to risk and persistence under varying reinforcement-success schedules’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 9, 96–100.
Markowitz, H. M.: 1952, ‘Portfolio selection’, Journal of Finance, 7, 77–91.
Markowitz, H. M.: 1959, Portfolio Selection, Wiley, New York.
Pratt, J. W.: 1964, ‘Risk aversion in the small and in the large’, Econometrica, 32, 122–136.
Rotter, J. B.: 1966, ‘Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control of reinforcement’, Psychological Monographs, 80, 1–28.
Shure, G. H. and Meeker, R. J.: 1967, ‘A personality/attitude schedule for use in experimental bargaining studies’, Journal of Psychology, 65, 233–252.
Slovic, P.: 1962, ‘Convergent validation of risk taking measures’, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 65, 68–71.
Slovic, P.: 1964, ‘Assessment of risk taking behavior’, Psychological Bulletin, 61, 220–233.
Slovic, P.: 1972, ‘Information processing, situation specificity, and the generality of risk-taking behavior’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 22, 128–134.
Slovic, P., Fischhoff, B., and Lichtenstein, S.: 1980, ‘Perceived risk’, in R. C. Schwing and W. A. Albers Jr. (eds.) Societal Risk Assessment: How Safe is Safe Enough? Plenum, New York.
Stoner, A. F. J.: 1961, ‘A comparison of individual and group decisions involving risk’, Master's Thesis, M.I.T.
Watts, H. W. and Tobin, J.: 1967, ‘Consumer expenditures and the capital account’, in D. D. Hester and J. Tobin (eds.), Studies of Portfolio Behavior, Wiley, New York, 1–39.
Wehrung, D. A., MacCrimmon, K. R., and Brothers, K. M.: 1984, ‘Utility assessment: domains, stability, and equivalence procedures’, Canadian Journal of Operational Research and Information Processing, 22, 98–115.
Weinstein, E. and Martin, J.: 1969, ‘Generality of willingness to take risks’, Psychological Reports, 24, 499–501.
Weinstein, M. S.: 1969, ‘Achievement motivation and risk preference’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 13, 153–172.
Zuckerman, M., Kolin, E. A., Price, L., and Zoob, I.: 1964, ‘Development of a sensation-seeking scale’, Journal of Consulting Psychology, 28, 477–482.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Maccrimmon, K.R., Wehrung, D.A. A portfolio of risk measures. Theor Decis 19, 1–29 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00134352
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00134352