Chanchai Tangpong, associate professor of management, and Jin Li, assistant professor of marketing, co-wrote the paper, “Robustness of General Risk Propensity Scale in Cross-Cultural Settings,” which was accepted for publication in the Journal of Managerial Issues.
Tangpong and Li said risk propensity of decision makers could be an influencing factor that ultimately shapes the outcomes of multifaceted business decisions. Therefore, developing a reliable and valid measurement scale for individuals’ risk propensity has become an important research endeavor.
The study aims to modify the existing General Risk Propensity scale and improve its robustness by testing it in cross-cultural settings. Specifically, the study tested, modified and cross-validated the General Risk Propensity scale with two sub-samples – experienced business professionals in the U.S. and China. The study also tested the predictive validity of the modified General Risk Propensity scale with an empirically grounded decision-making scenario in new product development. The results suggest that the modified General Risk Propensity scale attained reliability and validity in both cultural settings. The findings support the use of this modified scale to assess general risk propensity of business decision makers in both cultural settings.