Loss aversion attitude among Wenzhou-Kean University students

Abstract

People frequently face risky decisions in their life, and they need to make trade-off on risk level they want to take. One important factor which can influence people’s choice is their loss aversion level. Loss aversion is a branch of Behavioral Finance and it refers to people's tendency to prefer avoiding losses to acquiring equivalent gains (Schmidt & Zank, 2005). Exploring loss aversion attitude is critical for understanding people’s behavior when they face risky decisions. This study aims to explore the loss aversion attitude among Wenzhou-Kean University students. I use online survey to randomly select 100 respondents who are studying in WKU. To measure the overall level of the loss aversion level of WKU students, I use descriptive and percent frequency method, and the result shows a mid-level of loss aversion; to explore the factors which has impact on loss aversion attitude, I use multiple regression method, and the result shows that gender, age, and monthly disposable income have impact; I also use correlation to explore the relationship between loss aversion and risk tolerance level, and the result demonstrate a weakly negative correlation.