DOI 10.1007/s11238-006-0006-z Theory and Decision (2006) 61: 129–157 © Springer 2006 MEGAN LEE ENDRES THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ASSIGNED GOALS IN COMPLEX FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING AND THE IMPORTANCE OF GENDER ABSTRACT. Evidence suggests that men are more confident and less risk averse in financial decision making. Researchers did not address how men and women respond differently to goals in financial decision situations, how- ever. In the present study, men set more challenging personal goals and risked more resources than women in a complex financial decision task. Men did not report higher self-efficacy versus women. As expected, gen- der interacted with assigned goals to predict self-efficacy, risk behavior, and personal goals. Results concur with recent financial decision research that suggests men and women differ in their use of externally-provided informa- tion such as assigned goals. Suggestions for future research are offered and limitations are discussed. KEY WORDS: assigned goals, gender, multicriteria decisions, risk, self-efficacy. 1. INTRODUCTION Women report lower self-perceived ability to make financial, complex decisions versus men (Chowdhury and Endres, 2005; Jones and Tullous, 2002) and are more risk averse than men in financial decision making situations (Powell and Ansic, 1997). Because the number of women in top executive posi- tions remains very small (Daily et al., 1999; Klenke, 2003), it is important to research gender differences that may affect women’s ability to enter the strategic positions in organizations. The goal of the current study is to add to the research that demonstrates gender differences exist in decision mak- ing situations. Specifically, this study focuses on whether men and women respond differently to external influences, assigned