Investors’ Risk Behavior in Times of Crisis: A Cross Cultural Study

Recent research shows that by decoupling the risk response behavior of individual market participants into the separate components of risk perception and risk attitude, a more robust conceptualization and prediction of risk behavior is possible. Furthermore, it was argued that the influence of risk attitudes and risk perception on behavior can be used to formulate effective marketing strategies and public policies in case of crisis. The question that arises is whether or not the influence of these risk variables changes over time and, hence, whether marketing strategies and policies must be adapted. The financial crisis in Germany, the netherlands, and Greece in 2009 and 2012 provides us with a natural experiment to examine the relationship between risk attitudes, risk perceptions, and individual investors’ risk behavior over time. Implications for marketing-management, financial policy, and investment consulting are discussed.