Personal sense of power predicts financial risk-taking propensity: But only when risk-related decisions are made without cognitive load

A significant relationship between a sense of power and financial risk-taking has been established in the literature. However, the boundary conditions for this relationship remain unclear. This article presents the results of an online experimental study (N=192) that explores the moderating role of cognitive load in the relationship between power and financial risk-taking in the domains of gambling and investing. The findings validate a positive association between a sense of power and financial risk-taking, alongside a negative impact of cognitive load on financial risk. Notably, cognitive load moderates the relationship between power and financial risk-taking in a way that the link is positive when individuals have full access to their cognitive resources, but it becomes nonsignificant when they are under cognitive load.

Katarzyna Sekścińska, Diana Jaworska, Joanna Rudzińska-Wojciechowska