The Perception and Knowledge of Financial Risk of the Portuguese

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The paper “The perception and knowledge of financial risk of the Portuguese” focuses on the analysis and comparison of the financial risk perception and the financial risk knowledge of a sample of 830 Portuguese individuals. A sociodemographic characterization of the participants is made in order to better interpret the results of the survey.

 

The topic of the paper is interesting. In fact, it is necessary to know about the risk perception of the people in order to understand their behaviour in the financial markets and their use of the different financial products. The number of participants in the survey make the conclusions of the paper robust.

The structure of the paper follows the traditional structure (introduction and literature review, methodology and data description; results and discussion; and conclusions).

Although the work done in the introduction and literature research is sound, I miss some very interesting  and recent which are very much linked with the topic of this article:

Arribas, I.; Espinós-Vañó, M. D.; García, F.; Tamošiūnienė, R. 2019. Negative screening and sustainable portfolio diversification, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues 6(4): 1566-1586. https://doi.org/10.9770/jesi.2019.6.4(2)

Arribas, I.; Espinós-Vañó, M. D.; García, F.; Oliver, J. 2019. Defining socially responsible companies according to retail investors’ preferences, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues 7(2): 1641-1653. https://doi.org/10.9770/jesi.2019.7.2(59)

Morgan, P.J.; Trinh, L.Q. Determinants and Impacts of Financial Literacy in Cambodia and Viet Nam. J. Risk Financial Manag. 2019, 12, 19.

 

Regarding the methodology and data, all the process has been accurately described and I have no doubts about the research performed. The results of the survey are then correctly analyzed and interpreted.

Maybe, I would make the conclusions longer than just two sentences: “It is inferred there is statistical evidence to affirm that the Portuguese present higher levels of 328 perception of financial risk, in comparison to the levels of knowledge of financial risk. There is also 329 evidence to state that males present higher levels of perception and knowledge of financial risk than 330 females “.

In my opinion, authors could summarize what they have done in the research and point out other interesting results obtained. Some readers first read the conclusions, so they should be descriptive enough and show the work performed by the researchers.

 

My advice is to accept the paper, once these little changes are done which will enhance its quality.

Author Response

Thank you for the reviewer report. We have revised the paper based on the useful feedback of the reviewer. Please find below our responses to the reviewer’s suggestion and also the changes have been highlighted in yellow in the revised paper.

 

Reviewer 1:

The paper “The perception and knowledge of financial risk of the Portuguese” focuses on the analysis and comparison of the financial risk perception and the financial risk knowledge of a sample of 830 Portuguese individuals. A sociodemographic characterization of the participants is made in order to better interpret the results of the survey.

 The topic of the paper is interesting. In fact, it is necessary to know about the risk perception of the people in order to understand their behaviour in the financial markets and their use of the different financial products. The number of participants in the survey make the conclusions of the paper robust.

The structure of the paper follows the traditional structure (introduction and literature review, methodology and data description; results and discussion; and conclusions).

Although the work done in the introduction and literature research is sound, I miss some very interesting  and recent which are very much linked with the topic of this article:

Arribas, I.; Espinós-Vañó, M. D.; García, F.; Tamošiūnienė, R. 2019. Negative screening and sustainable portfolio diversification, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues 6(4): 1566-1586. https://doi.org/10.9770/jesi.2019.6.4(2)

Arribas, I.; Espinós-Vañó, M. D.; García, F.; Oliver, J. 2019. Defining socially responsible companies according to retail investors’ preferences, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues 7(2): 1641-1653. https://doi.org/10.9770/jesi.2019.7.2(59)

Morgan, P.J.; Trinh, L.Q. Determinants and Impacts of Financial Literacy in Cambodia and Viet Nam. J. Risk Financial Manag. 2019, 12, 19.

• Thank you for this feedback. We have added these references to the reference list and also discuss them in the article.

 

Regarding the methodology and data, all the process has been accurately described and I have no doubts about the research performed. The results of the survey are then correctly analyzed and interpreted.

• Thank you for this feedback.

Maybe, I would make the conclusions longer than just two sentences: “It is inferred there is statistical evidence to affirm that the Portuguese present higher levels of 328 perception of financial risk, in comparison to the levels of knowledge of financial risk. There is also 329 evidence to state that males present higher levels of perception and knowledge of financial risk than 330 females “.

In my opinion, authors could summarize what they have done in the research and point out other interesting results obtained. Some readers first read the conclusions, so they should be descriptive enough and show the work performed by the researchers.

• We have added the following section to the conclusion section to make it more descriptive:

“This article has focused on understanding financial risk by analysing individuals perceptions [32]. This means there is a focus on percpetions that are difficult to analyse in an objective way. Therefore, more research is required on risk perception that complements the existing research in this study. For example, other ways to measure financial risk need to be studied in order to provide more evidence about the role of risk particularly that of a financial kind in individuals lives [34]. In addition, a one country setting being Portugal was analysed, which provides a comprehensive understanding of financial risk [35]. Although this means that other geographic contexts have not been studied, which opens up new research possibilities [36].”

My advice is to accept the paper, once these little changes are done which will enhance its quality.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

I find the study quite interesting, but some changes should be implemented, to reach the level of the journal.

1. Complete the introduction, the literature review, the whole article with more than another 30 references. Current 30 references is very few for such a study. Sources must be from the last 8 years.
2. Explain intelligibly the term financial alphabetization in the literature review. Next, explain the sustainable effect of this term for the people. At the end, explain the relationship between financial alphabetization and risk.
3. There is no clearly specified the topic of sustainability in this article. It must be added in the introduction and in the literature review, too.
4. Improve line numbering, especially in the references.
5. Explain clearly the relationship between the questions in questionnaire and set hypothesis.
6. What are the limitations of your research and what are the areas for future study of this article? Add them into Discussion.
7. Improve citations according to requirements.
8. Complete author contributions.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for your feedback. Please find attached our responses and also the revised article.

 

I find the study quite interesting, but some changes should be implemented, to reach the level of the journal.

1. Complete the introduction, the literature review, the whole article with more than another 30 references. Current 30 references is very few for such a study. Sources must be from the last 8 years.

 

• Thank you for this feedback. We have added the following references to the paper and added them to the reference list:

 

• Arribas, I.; Espinós-Vañó, M. D.; García, F.; Tamošiūnienė, R. 2019. Negative screening and sustainable portfolio diversification, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues6(4): 1566-1586. https://doi.org/10.9770/jesi.2019.6.4(2)
• Arribas, I.; Espinós-Vañó, M. D.; García, F.; Oliver, J. 2019. Defining socially responsible companies according to retail investors’ preferences, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues7(2): 1641-1653. https://doi.org/10.9770/jesi.2019.7.2(59)
• Morgan, P.J.; Trinh, L.Q. Determinants and Impacts of Financial Literacy in Cambodia and Viet Nam.  Risk Financial Manag.2019, 12, 19.
• Santos, G., Marques, C. S., & Ratten, V. (2019). Entrepreneurial women’s networks: the case of D’Uva–Portugal wine girls. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 25(2), 298-322.
• Estevao, C., Cruz, R., Ferreira, J. and Ratten, V. (2017) ‘Contemporary approaches to performance evaluation of international hotel groups in Portugal’, Journal for Global Business Advancement, 11(2): 173-192.
• Santos, G., Marques, C., Ferreira, J., Gerry, C. and Ratten, V. (2017) 'Women’s entrepreneurship in Northern Portugal: Psychological factors versus contextual influences in the economic downturn’, World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 13(4): 418-440.
• Ferreira, J. J., Fernandes, C., and Ratten, V. (2019). The effects of technology transfers and institutional factors on economic growth: evidence from Europe and Oceania. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 44(5), 1505-1528.
• Miragaia, D., Ferreira, J. and Ratten, V. (2019) ‘Interactions between financial efficiency and sports performance: Strategic data for a sustainable entrepreneurial approach of European professional football clubs’, Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy, 8(1): 84-102.
• Jones, P., Klapper, R., Ratten, V. and Fayolle, A. (2018) ‘Emerging themes in entrepreneurial behaviours, identities and contexts’, International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 19(4): 233-236.
• Ferreira, J.J. and Ratten, V. (2017) ‘Competitiveness of locations: The effects of regional innovation and entrepreneurial practices’, Competitiveness Review, 28(1): 2-5.
• Ferreira, J., Ratten, V. and Dana, L. (2017) ‘Knowledge based spillovers and strategic entrepreneurship’, International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 13(1): 161-167
• Ferreira, J., Fernandes, C. and Ratten, V. (2015) 'International entrepreneurship research: Mapping and cognitive structures', International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 30(4): 545-566

 

1. Explain intelligibly the term financial alphabetization in the literature review. Next, explain the sustainable effect of this term for the people. At the end, explain the relationship between financial alphabetization and risk.

 

• Apologies but this word should be financial literacy. The term has been replaced in the revised article. This connections with financial literacy are stated in the introduction and literature review section.

 

1. There is no clearly specified the topic of sustainability in this article. It must be added in the introduction and in the literature review, too.

 

• Thank you for this suggestion. The following section discussing the role of sustainability in the article has been added to the introduction section:

“Increasingly the management of risk is becoming a necessity of a sustainable economy. This is due to sustainability issues related to economic and market environments being analysed from a risk perspective. This means more financial reporting regarding sustainability is incorporating financial risk analysis tools.”

 

1. Improve line numbering, especially in the references.

 

• Thank you for this feedback. The line numbering now appears in the reference list.

 

1. Explain clearly the relationship between the questions in questionnaire and set hypothesis.

• Thank you for this suggestion. This has been stated in table 3 and 4.

 

1. What are the limitations of your research and what are the areas for future study of this article? Add them into Discussion.

 

• Thank you for this feedback. In the conclusion section the following section stating the limitations and suggestions for future research have been included:

“This article has focused on understanding financial risk by analysing individuals perceptions. This means there is a focus on percpetions that are difficult to analyse in an objective way. Therefore, more research is required on risk perception that complements the existing research in this study. For example, other ways to measure financial risk need to be studied in order to provide more evidence about the role of risk particularly that of a financial kind in individuals lives. In addition, a one country setting being Portugal was analysed, which provides a comprehensive understanding of financial risk. Although this means that other geographic contexts have not been studied, which opens up new research possibilities.”

 

 

1. Improve citations according to requirements.

 

• The citation style has been updated to suit the journal requirements.

 

1. Complete author contributions.

• Thank you for this feedback. The author contributions have been completed and are stated below:

“Author Contributions: Conceptualization, F.T., E.S. and VT.; methodology, F.T., E.S., V.T..; software, F.T., E.S., V.T..; formal analysis, F.T., E.S., V.T..;.; investigation, F.T., E.S., V.T..;.; writing—original draft preparation, F.T., E.S., V.T..; V.R.; supervision, F.T., E.S., V.T..;.; project administration, FT, ES, VT, V.R.. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. “

 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Still some changes should be implemented, to reach the level of the journal.

1. Correct the words in text - some of them are with mistakes.
2. Improve visually references - block alignment.

Author Response

Dear reviewer,

Thank you for the feedback.

1. Correct the words in text - some of them are with mistakes.

The paper has been proof read by a native English speaker. The revised paper with the changes are highlighted in yellow in the attached paper.

1. Improve visually references - block alignment

We have changed this so that the references have a block alignment.

Thank you

The authors

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf