Reference groups and variable risk strategies

The present article examines two important effects that have been given scant attention in prior studies of variable risk strategies. The first effect, reference group sensitivity, is the degree to which decision makers’ aspirations are sensitive to their reference group. In this paper we compare the performances of decision makers with alternative levels of reference group sensitivity. Second, we introduce the novel concept of community effect. This relates to mobility among multiple segregated reference groups. The performance of decision makers residing in a world with one single population is compared with that of decision makers who have the possibility, which is more or less costly, to switch between multiple populations. The results support the findings from previous studies that variable risk strategies are preferred over fixed risk. The study of a community of populations provides additional insights that both support and complement previous research.