Masculinity and Femininity As Predictors of Financial Risk-Taking: Evidence From a Priming Study on Gender Salience

Women have proven to be more risk-averse than men in investment decisions. This difference may stem from biological factors and/or different gender socialization (masculine versus feminine). In the present experiment, gender affiliation was made salient via priming. Gender salience resulted in a high gender identification. Identifying with males or females, respectively, made men to respond in a more masculine and women in a more feminine way. Masculinity affected hypothetical financial risk taking positively, femininity negatively. Differences between men and women in their financial risk taking propensity increased after gender affiliation was made salient. Implications for further research and business practice are discussed.

Citation:

Katja Meier-Pesti and Elisabeth Goetze (2005) ,"Masculinity and Femininity As Predictors of Financial Risk-Taking: Evidence From a Priming Study on Gender Salience", in E - European Advances in Consumer Research Volume 7, eds. Karin M. Ekstrom and Helene Brembeck, Goteborg, Sweden : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 45-46.