Prosociality and risk preferences in the financial sector

Using large-scale data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), this paper finds that financial professionals have a lower prosociality and riskier behavior than a control group. I interpret these findings using the person-organization fit theory, and thus, the compatibility between the employee's personality and the prevailing culture in their organization. The financial sector attracts riskier individuals, but professionals become less prosocial in the sector. These attitudes are associated with behavioral consequences, and are mainly driven by male professionals in lower management.