Personality and gender differences in revealed risk preference: evidence from Ghana

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 631-647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priscilla Twumasi Baffour ◽  
Ibrahim Mohammed ◽  
Wassiuw Abdul Rahaman

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate gender differences in risk aversion and determine the effect of personality traits on risk aversion from an African country context. Design/methodology/approach The study combined both descriptive and analytical designs, and employed t-test, Pearson’s χ2 and binary logistic regression as the main analytical techniques. Data for the analysis were obtained from the World Bank’s Skills toward Employment and Productivity survey on Ghana. Findings Results of the study revealed systematic differences in personality and gender and their associations with risk aversion. Specifically, women were found to be more risk averse than men. Differences in personality also showed that females reported higher levels of personality in all but one of the Big Five personality traits – extraversion. In addition to gender, age and education, the personality traits of conscientiousness and stability were the main predictors of the likelihood of being risk averse. Although personality differences existed between male and female, the interaction terms between gender and personality factors were not statistically significant. Originality/value The paper departs from the extant literature on developed countries and western cultures to add to the understanding on how individual differences account for variation in revealed risk preferences.

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
pp. 665-684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mackenzie R. Zisser ◽  
Sheri L. Johnson ◽  
Michael A. Freeman ◽  
Paige J. Staudenmaier

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine gender differences in personality traits of people with and without entrepreneurial intent to assess whether women who intend to become entrepreneurs exhibit particular tendencies that can be fostered. Design/methodology/approach Participants completed an online battery of well-established questionnaires to cover a range of personality traits relevant to entrepreneurship and gender. Participants also answered items concerning intent to become an entrepreneur. A factor analysis of personality traits produced four factors (esteem and power, ambition, risk propensity and communal tendency, the latter reflecting openness and cooperation, without hubris). The authors constructed four parallel regression models to examine how gender, entrepreneurial intent and the interaction of gender with intent related to these four personality factor scores. Findings Participants who endorsed a desire to become an entrepreneur reported higher ambition. Women with entrepreneurial intentions endorsed higher levels of communal tendency than men with entrepreneurial intent. Those without entrepreneurial intent did not show gender differences in communal tendency. Research limitations/implications Current findings suggest that men and women who intend to become entrepreneurs share many traits, but women with entrepreneurial intent show unique elevations in communal tendencies. Thus, a worthwhile locus for intervention into the gender disparity in self-employment would be providing space and acknowledgement of prosocial motivation and goals as one highly successful route to entrepreneurship. Originality/value Given the underused economic potential of women entrepreneurs, there is a fundamental need for a rich array of research on factors that limit and promote women’s entry into entrepreneurship. Current findings indicate that personality may be one piece of this puzzle.


2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sami Ullah Bajwa ◽  
Khuram Shahzad ◽  
Haris Aslam

Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore the predictive role of personality and gender in cognitive adaptability of entrepreneurs. By using the theories of personality development, social learning, situated cognition and meta-cognition, a logical relationship between personality traits, gender difference and entrepreneurs’ cognitive adaptability was established. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative strategy and cross-sectional survey method was then deployed to empirically investigate the purposed relationships between variables of interest. Randomly selected 443 working entrepreneurs responded to the survey. Findings Factor analyzed structural equation modeling estimated cognitive adaptability as a second-order factor, with extroversion and neuroticism having a significant impact on cognitive adaptability. Multi-group moderation revealed a significant difference among females and males against the same two personality traits. Originality/value This study in its nature is the first attempt to link Big Five personality traits with cognitive adaptability of entrepreneurs.


Kybernetes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (11) ◽  
pp. 2651-2682
Author(s):  
Selim Aren ◽  
Hatice Nayman Hamamci

Purpose This paper aims to examine the effects of subjective and financial literacy, big five personality traits and emotions (fear, anger, hope and sadness) on risk aversion, risky investment intention and investment choices were investigated. Interactions of these three variables (risk aversion, risky investment intention and investment choices) were also examined. Design/methodology/approach For this purpose, in January-February 2019, collected data on 446 subjects from Turkey using the internet (341) and face-to-face (105) survey instruments. The authors exploited IBM SPSS Statistics for analysis. ANOVA, t-test and discriminant analysis were performed. Findings As a result of the analyzes, two personality traits (neuroticism and openness) and two emotions (fear and sadness) were determined as predictors of risk aversion. For risky investment intention, risk aversion, two personality traits (neuroticism and openness) and one of the same and other one different two emotions (fear and anger) were found. Originality/value Investment choices can be estimated by objective financial literature, risk aversion and risky investment intention. In addition, individuals’ risk averse or risk taking characteristics differ according to their level of sadness with agreeableness, conscientiousness and neuroticism personality traits. Similarly, have a risky investment intention or have not risky investment intention also differs according to sadness emotions with conscientiousness and openness. Finally, the choice of stocks or bank deposits varies according to subjective financial literacy and extraversion personality trait.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vimolwan Yukongdi ◽  
Nusrat Zahan Lopa

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of entrepreneurial intention. Specifically, the study investigated the extent to which personality traits or situational factors influenced entrepreneurial intention and whether the relationship among the predictor variables and the intention to become entrepreneurs differed between men and women. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected using a questionnaire-based survey of 393 students at a reputable international educational institution in Thailand. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis and analysis of variance were employed to test the hypotheses. Findings A total of eight independent variables were tested for their effect on entrepreneurial intention. Three of the personality traits, including need for achievement, risk-taking tendency, job security, were found to have a significant effect on intention for entrepreneurship. However, environment for starting a business and educational programme were found to be suppressor variables. Personality factors had a greater degree of effect on entrepreneurial intention than situational factors. With respect to gender differences, for women, job autonomy and job security were significant predictors while for men, need for achievement and risk-taking tendency contributed to entrepreneurial intention. Originality/value The study investigated whether personality factors or situational factors were the main drivers of entrepreneurial intention and to what extent gender differences exist in the determinants of entrepreneurial intention. Few studies have been based on a sample of respondents of such diversity in terms of nationality. The present study included respondents from 12 different nationalities in Asia.


2012 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Azar Hosseini Fatemi ◽  
Arezoo Asghari

This study was designed to determine whether there is any association between learners' personality traits and their sets of attributions in learning English as a foreign language, regarding their gender differences. To this aim, 216 lower intermediate English language learners, 111 male and 105 female, studying in Shokouh English language institutes in Mashhad took part in the study. They completed NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) and Attribution questionnaire (ATFLL). The results of the correlational study in male and female groups indicated significant relationships between some of personality traits and sub-scales of attribution theory. The result of t-test showed that the difference between means was not significant in any of the attribution sub-constructs between male and female learners. Regarding personality factors, results showed that the difference between the means was significant only for Agreeableness and Conscientiousness.


Author(s):  
Marc Allroggen ◽  
Peter Rehmann ◽  
Eva Schürch ◽  
Carolyn C. Morf ◽  
Michael Kölch

Abstract.Narcissism is seen as a multidimensional construct that consists of two manifestations: grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. In order to define these two manifestations, their relationship to personality factors has increasingly become of interest. However, so far no studies have considered the relationship between different phenotypes of narcissism and personality factors in adolescents. Method: In a cross-sectional study, we examine a group of adolescents (n = 98; average age 16.77 years; 23.5 % female) with regard to the relationship between Big Five personality factors and pathological narcissism using self-report instruments. This group is compared to a group of young adults (n = 38; average age 19.69 years; 25.6 % female). Results: Grandiose narcissism is primarily related to low Agreeableness and Extraversion, vulnerable narcissism to Neuroticism. We do not find differences between adolescents and young adults concerning the relationship between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism and personality traits. Discussion: Vulnerable and grandiose narcissism can be well differentiated in adolescents, and the pattern does not show substantial differences compared to young adults.


2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-228
Author(s):  
Ibrahim Mohammed ◽  
Priscilla Twumasi Baffour ◽  
Wassiuw Abdul Rahaman

In an extensive review of wage determination papers, it is concluded that the standard demographic and human capital factors explain little of earning differentials. Consequently, there is a growing interest among economists to include non-cognitive skills measured by personality traits in recent empirical literature to explain variations in earnings. In a bid to contribute empirical evidence to this strand of literature, this study examines the associations between the Big-Five personality traits (i.e., agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, extraversion and neuroticism) and earnings, using the World Bank’s Skills towards Employment and Productivity (STEP) data on Ghana. The study employed regression techniques to estimate a series of semi-logarithmic wage equations that include demographic and human capital factors and the Big-Five personality traits to determine how important these factors are in explaining wage and self-employment earnings. Furthermore, the estimations of the wage equations are done separately for males and females to highlight any gender differences in the way personality traits contribute to earnings. Findings are largely consistent with the literature but uniquely demonstrate that in a power-distant culture like Ghana, where, traditionally, girl-child education has been relegated to the background, agreeable females, and not males, are rewarded in the formal wage employment labour market. However, in the informal self-employment labour market, conscientious males, and not females, are positively rewarded with higher earnings. These unique findings contribute to our understanding of the gender differences in the relative importance of non-cognitive skills in the formal and informal labour markets. JEL Codes: J31, J24


2017 ◽  
Vol 121 (5) ◽  
pp. 920-931 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuhei Iimura ◽  
Kanako Taku

Prior work has indicated that female adolescents mature more quickly than males with regard to the various personality dimensions. From the developmental perspectives, this study aimed to explore gender differences in the relationships between resilience and the Big Five personality traits in Japanese adolescents. Middle school students ( N = 310, 155 females, age range = 14–15 years) participated in an online survey. The results demonstrated that females had higher Conscientiousness than males. Stepwise regression analyses indicated that Neuroticism was the most influential predictor of resilience in females, whereas Extraversion was the most important predictor in males. Multigroup path analysis demonstrated that the effect of Neuroticism on resilience was greater for females; however, the effects of all other variables did not differ across genders. Considering gender differences is important to understand the relationship between resilience and the Big Five dimensions among adolescents.


Author(s):  
Justin Paul ◽  
Archana Shrivastava

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare entrepreneurial attributes of MBA students, the next generation business people, from two important Asian countries, India from South Asia and Japan from East Asia (India, being an emerging country and Japan, a developed country). Design/methodology/approach – Survey responses from MBA students in India and Japan were measured on an entrepreneurial personality index. Bateman and Crant’s scale consisting of 17 traits is used to identify if entrepreneurial traits are a learned cultural behaviour or intrinsic personality factors. Findings – Although the findings indicate that India has benefitted from entrepreneurship in the information technology and information technology-enabled service ventures during the past two decades, the country still has a long way to go when compared to developed countries like Japan, where entrepreneurship is widespread. Research limitations/implications – The results are based on a single survey, using cross-sectional data. Originality/value – The level of entrepreneurship differs considerably across countries and periods. The authors put forward a theoretical framework to denote the linkage between entrepreneurial attitude, pro-active personality and culture, besides highlighting the three pillars of entrepreneurship.


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