Are Public Officials More Risk-averse than Private Sector Employees in Decision-making? Interest and Accountability Matter

This project contains the data for a study examining differences in risk preferences between public officials and private sector employees. The data were collected through two preregistered survey experiments conducted in China. Experiment 1 employed a 3 (public interest vs. mixed public–private interest vs. private interest) × 2 (gain vs. loss frame) between-subjects design to examine how interest attributes and framing jointly influence risk preferences. Experiment 2 focused on public interest decision contexts and used a 2 (reward-oriented vs. punishment-oriented accountability) × 2 (process-oriented vs. outcome-oriented accountability) between-subjects design to assess the role of accountability in shaping risk preferences.The data are anonymized and contain no personally identifiable information. Access and use of the data are subject to the terms specified in this repository.