ISSN: 2576-0319
Authors: Krumov KD*, Schneider JF, Jin Liu, Krumova AK, Widodo E, Gungov AL, Juhasz M, Garvanova MZ, Milburn JT, Kumar S and Repaczki R
This study reveals cross-cultural differences in risk-taking attitudes between Asians and Europeans at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. It included 2,617 participants aged between 18 and 80 from three Asian (China, India, and Indonesia) and three European (Bulgaria, Germany, and Hungary) countries. The goal is to reveal whether respondents’ attitudes toward risk-taking are affected by cultural context, gender, age, and some demographic characteristics. Results show that Asian participants demonstrate stronger risk-taking attitudes, while Europeans tend to be risk-averse (61.6% vs. 38.4%). Furthermore, Asian women, compared to all other gender groups, are the most prone to risk-taking in conditions of uncertainty (p<0.001). Results also reveal that risk-taking attitudes of individuals vary across age groups being highest among young people and gradually declining with age. Additionally, it is shown that in both Asian and European cultures, the level of education is not a significant factor influencing individuals’ risk-taking attitudes (p>0.05). However, representatives of both cultures who have biological or adopted children in their families are equally likely to avoid the risk, whereas childless Asians, compared with childless Europeans, are more likely to take the risk. There are also significant cultural differences regarding individuals’ marital status, where risk-taking attitudes are stronger for single Asians compared to unmarried Europeans. As another characteristic of individuals, religiosity also influences their attitudes toward risk-taking. One of the findings shows that when the degree of religiosity of Asians decreases, their propensity to take risks increases, whereas the opposite trend is observed for Europeans.
Keywords: Asia; COVID-19; Cultural differences; Europe; Risk-taking
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