The Impact of Time Scarcity on Risky Decision‐Making: The Mediating Role of Perceived Stress and Moderating Role of Psychological Resilience

Scarcity significantly impacts individual decision-making processes. Meanwhile, perceived stress has been identified as closely linked to both scarcity and risk-taking. While psychological resilience serves as a crucial protective factor in coping with stress, prior research has predominantly focused on the relationship between tangible resource scarcity (e.g., financial scarcity) and risky decision-making. There's a notable lack of studies exploring how time scarcity, a common form of intangible resource scarcity, influences individual risk-taking. This study employed behavioural experiments to investigate the effects of time scarcity on risky decision-making, as well as the roles played by perceived stress and psychological resilience. Our findings indicate that individuals operating under conditions of time scarcity exhibit a greater tendency towards risk-seeking, making more adventurous decisions. Perceived stress was found to mediate the relationship between time scarcity and risky decision-making. Furthermore, psychological resilience negatively moderated both the impact of time scarcity on perceived stress and the mediating effect of perceived stress. Specifically, high-resilience individuals experienced less perceived stress and demonstrated lower levels of risk-taking in their decisions under time scarcity. This research sheds light on the underlying mechanisms through which time scarcity influences risk-taking behaviour, offering valuable insights for improving individual decision-making quality.