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Catch me if I fall: Cross-national differences in willingness to take financial risks as a function of social and state ‘cushioning’

Author

Listed:
  • Dennis D. Fehrenbacher
  • Claudia R Schneider
  • Elke U. Weber

Abstract

Knowledge about the existence and source of national differences in willingness to take risks plays a vital role in ensuring successful communication, collaboration, and understanding across countries, from the personal to the organizational and political/social domain. The current study investigates differences in financial risk-taking willingness between countries as a function of social and state ‘cushioning’, i.e. the extent of a person’s social support network and the state’s social-safety support network. The study compares large-scale household data and self-reports on willingness to take financial risks across three countries differing in their state support networks: Austria, Italy and the United States. Results show that personal social support network size influences risk-taking willingness (social cushioning). Furthermore, and most notably, we find evidence of an interactive relationship between social and state cushioning. High state cushioning renders the influence of social cushioning on financial risk-taking willingness less important. Contributions to management and business practice as well as theory on the influence of personal distance to financial support on risk-taking willingness are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Dennis D. Fehrenbacher & Claudia R Schneider & Elke U. Weber, 2017. "Catch me if I fall: Cross-national differences in willingness to take financial risks as a function of social and state ‘cushioning’," LWS Working papers 16, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    • Handle: RePEc:lis:lwswps:16
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    2. Laura H. Middermann & Lubna Rashid, 2019. "Cross-Country Differences in Entrepreneurial Internationalization Tendencies: Evidence from Germany and Pakistan," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-17, July.
    3. Illiashenko, Pavlo & Laidroo, Laivi, 2020. "National culture and bank risk-taking: Contradictory case of individualism," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    4. Illiashenko, Pavlo, 2019. "“Tough Guy” vs. “Cushion” hypothesis: How does individualism affect risk-taking?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    5. Dee Warmath & Pan‐Ju Chen & John Grable & Eun Jin Kwak, 2021. "Soft landings: Extending the cushion hypothesis to financial well‐being in collectivistic cultures," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(4), pages 1563-1590, December.
    6. Pham, Tho & Talavera, Oleksandr & Wood, Geoffrey & Yin, Shuxing, 2022. "Quality of working environment and corporate financial distress," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).

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    Keywords

    cushion hypothesis; financial risk-taking willingness; cross-national comparison; social support network; state support network;
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