GENDER DISCREPANCY'S IMPACT ON PERCEIVED RISK AND INVESTMENT DECISION: A REVIEW OF FINANCIAL PRACTITIONERS BEHAVIOR IN HONG KONG, CHINA

This empirical study focuses on how professional men and women perceive and respond to investment risk. The results concluded that female advisors are more conservative than their male counterparts. Female practitioners? outweighed the loss of downside risk than the upside potential return. Female placed more confidence in low risk assets but perceive greater risk in high risk investment products than male advisors. Also, the study revealed that that the higher the educational level of the practitioners, the less risk averse they were in their risk profile. The surprising result of this research – as the practitioners earned more income, a decrease in their confidence in risk taking was manifested.