PERSONALITY, INFORMATION ACQUISITION, AND CHOICE UNDER UNCERTAINTY: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

Guillaume R. Fréchette, Andrew Schotter, Isabel Trevino

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract

    This article studies the role of personality in choice under risk and uncertainty. We explore the hypothesis that personality plays a role in decision making in situations of uncertainty but not in situations of risk. In addition to offering support for this main hypothesis, we explore the various pathways through which personality exerts its influence. What we find is that in uncertain environments, where decision makers are able to acquire information about the unknown probability distributions they face, personality variables influence the type of information people acquire, which then influences their choice. Our experimental design brings in two novel aspects of choice under uncertainty: information acquisition and advice. The findings indicate that indeed, under uncertainty, personality matters for choice in a way it does not under risk. Furthermore, the results suggest that personality can play a role at multiple levels, such as people's preferences for certain types of information and the likelihood of following advice. (JEL C90, D03, D81).

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)1468-1488
    Number of pages21
    JournalEconomic Inquiry
    Volume55
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Jul 2017

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • General Business, Management and Accounting
    • Economics and Econometrics

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