Gender-specific risk attitudes : does this stereotype also exist at the implicit level?

Hari, Jürg J.; Rawitzer, Heike; Sukale, Nadine

Publication type:	Conference other
Type of review:	Peer review (abstract)
Title:	Gender-specific risk attitudes : does this stereotype also exist at the implicit level?
Authors:	Hari, Jürg J. Rawitzer, Heike Sukale, Nadine
Conference details:	EUKO 2015: Stereotypen und Wissensrepräsentationen in Marketing und Werbung, Darmstadt, Deutschland, 29.-31. Oktober 2015
Issue Date:	2015
Publisher / Ed. Institution:	EUKO
Publisher / Ed. Institution:	Darmstadt
Language:	English
Subjects:	Marketing
Subject (DDC):	658.8: Marketing management
Abstract:	It is widely acknowledged that people, on average, are risk averse. Moreover, there is a substantial amount of research that confirms that women are more risk averse than men. Research in consumer psychology suggests that much of human behavior is influenced by non-conscious, uncontrolled, unobserved processes in memory. To this end three studies were conducted, which comprises an implicit association test (IAT) and a questionnaire (explicit). The IAT is a sorting task requiring test subjects to quickly classify words or pictures (items) into predetermined categories. It aims to assess the strength of associations – in the present case towards risk or security, respectively. The underlying premise is that people have an implicit preference for risk-seeking behavior relative to risk averse behavior if they are faster to categorize items when ‘risk’ and ‘positive’ are combined and ‘security’ and ‘negative’ are combined, relative to the reverse. Financial and insurance advisors are well aware of risk seeking stereotypes and aim to establish their clients’ risk aversion to better suit their financial and/or insurance needs. This situation also poses a challenge for advertisers who wish to aid financial institutions in providing a sense of security. We present three studies using the IAT to confirm the gender stereotype about risk, both on the explicit as well as on the implicit level. One study also included pictures used in financial services advertising. The aim of this study was twofold: First, the study examined if people who are risk averse prefer advertisements that convey security and if they dislike advertisements that involve the concept of risk. Second, it analyzed whether women differ from men in their preferences regarding ‘risk’ advertisements. The results of these studies corroborate the view that (i) people in general are risk averse, and (ii) women are more risk averse than men. Remarkably, the IAT scores (strengths of association) are very high, i.e., people show a clear preference towards security. These three studies demonstrate that implicit measures add incremental value beyond explicit measures.
URI:	https://digitalcollection.zhaw.ch/handle/11475/15934
Fulltext version:	Published version
License (according to publishing contract):	Licence according to publishing contract
Departement:	School of Management and Law
Organisational Unit:	Institute of Marketing Management (IMM)
Appears in collections:	Publikationen School of Management and Law

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Hari, J. J., Rawitzer, H., & Sukale, N. (2015). Gender-specific risk attitudes : does this stereotype also exist at the implicit level? EUKO 2015: Stereotypen Und Wissensrepräsentationen in Marketing Und Werbung, Darmstadt, Deutschland, 29.-31. Oktober 2015.

Hari, J.J., Rawitzer, H. and Sukale, N. (2015) ‘Gender-specific risk attitudes : does this stereotype also exist at the implicit level?’, in EUKO 2015: Stereotypen und Wissensrepräsentationen in Marketing und Werbung, Darmstadt, Deutschland, 29.-31. Oktober 2015. Darmstadt: EUKO.

J. J. Hari, H. Rawitzer, and N. Sukale, “Gender-specific risk attitudes : does this stereotype also exist at the implicit level?,” in EUKO 2015: Stereotypen und Wissensrepräsentationen in Marketing und Werbung, Darmstadt, Deutschland, 29.-31. Oktober 2015, 2015.

HARI, Jürg J., Heike RAWITZER und Nadine SUKALE, 2015. Gender-specific risk attitudes : does this stereotype also exist at the implicit level? In: EUKO 2015: Stereotypen und Wissensrepräsentationen in Marketing und Werbung, Darmstadt, Deutschland, 29.-31. Oktober 2015. Conference presentation. Darmstadt: EUKO. 2015

Hari, Jürg J., Heike Rawitzer, and Nadine Sukale. 2015. “Gender-Specific Risk Attitudes : Does This Stereotype Also Exist at the Implicit Level?” Conference presentation. In EUKO 2015: Stereotypen Und Wissensrepräsentationen in Marketing Und Werbung, Darmstadt, Deutschland, 29.-31. Oktober 2015. Darmstadt: EUKO.

Hari, Jürg J., et al. “Gender-Specific Risk Attitudes : Does This Stereotype Also Exist at the Implicit Level?” EUKO 2015: Stereotypen Und Wissensrepräsentationen in Marketing Und Werbung, Darmstadt, Deutschland, 29.-31. Oktober 2015, EUKO, 2015.