Risk tolerance assessment in real assets investments: a scale validation in Brazil

Purpose – Risk tolerance, understood as the willingness of accepting a certain amount of risk which was perceived in an uncertain scenario, has been broadly studied under the framework of personal financial. This research aims to validate a scale for investment risk tolerance when dealing with real assets, in a business context. Design/methodology/approach – A survey was performed with 150 managers, directors, and entrepreneurs who make investment decisions regarding real assets in the commerce, industry, and service sectors. Exploratory factorial analysis was performed was applied to detect the dimensionality of Risk Tolerance construct. Findings – Risk Tolerance in real assets investments is a construct composed by two dimensions, the first factor is related to the familiarity of the decision-maker with the company and its investments, and it was denominated comfort and security, following the original dimension from personal finance research. The second dimension refers to the unpredictability and the complexity of risky investments in real assets, and it was denominated ‘black box effect’. The last factor, however, did not achieve the standards of reliability and it need further research.