IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/jconsa/v56y2022i3p1148-1177.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The role of social psychological factors in vulnerability to financial hardship

Author

Listed:
  • Dee Warmath
  • Genevieve Elizabeth O'Connor
  • Nancy Wong
  • Casey Newmeyer

Abstract

Previous research attributes vulnerability to financial hardship either to structural inequities or to poor financial behavior. Less attention has been paid to the role of social psychological factors or to the relative contribution of demographics, behavior, and social psychology in understanding an individual's vulnerability to financial hardship. While studies have examined psychosocial factors in financial outcomes, we argue that these factors represent a missing perspective in the construction of interventions to lessen vulnerability. We further argue that a holistic perspective considering all three factors is needed to address vulnerability to financial hardship. Capitalizing on the richness of the CFPB National Financial Well‐Being Survey data (n = 6394), we examine the unique contribution of psychosocial factors in explaining an individual's financial vulnerability over and above demographics and behaviors. Using four different measures of financial hardship, we find that all three types of factors play important roles in understanding vulnerability to financial hardship. Our findings suggest that more holistic measures and interventions are needed to enhance consumer financial well‐being.

Suggested Citation

  • Dee Warmath & Genevieve Elizabeth O'Connor & Nancy Wong & Casey Newmeyer, 2022. "The role of social psychological factors in vulnerability to financial hardship," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 1148-1177, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jconsa:v:56:y:2022:i:3:p:1148-1177
    DOI: 10.1111/joca.12468
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12468
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/joca.12468?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Morduch, Jonathan, 1994. "Poverty and Vulnerability," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 221-225, May.
    2. Leah Gjertson, 2016. "Emergency Saving and Household Hardship," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 1-17, March.
    3. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2008. "Planning and Financial Literacy: How Do Women Fare?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 413-417, May.
    4. Fisher, Patti J. & Montalto, Catherine P., 2010. "Effect of saving motives and horizon on saving behaviors," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 92-105, February.
    5. Sam Allgood & William B. Walstad, 2011. "The Effects of Perceived and Actual Financial Knowledge on Credit Card Behavior," NFI Working Papers 2011-WP-15, Indiana State University, Scott College of Business, Networks Financial Institute.
    6. Ngina Chiteji, 2010. "Time Preference, Noncognitive Skills and Well Being across the Life Course: Do Noncognitive Skills Encourage Healthy Behavior?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(2), pages 200-204, May.
    7. Heath, Chip & Soll, Jack B, 1996. "Mental Budgeting and Consumer Decisions," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 23(1), pages 40-52, June.
    8. Lusardi, Annamaria & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2007. "Baby Boomer retirement security: The roles of planning, financial literacy, and housing wealth," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 205-224, January.
    9. Jeffrey Dew, 2007. "Two Sides of the Same Coin? The Differing Roles of Assets and Consumer Debt in Marriage," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 89-104, March.
    10. Plath, D. Anthony & Stevenson, Thomas H., 2005. "Financial services consumption behavior across Hispanic American consumers," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 58(8), pages 1089-1099, August.
    11. Michael S. Finke & John S. Howe & Sandra J. Huston, 2017. "Old Age and the Decline in Financial Literacy," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(1), pages 213-230, January.
    12. Kivetz, Ran & Simonson, Itamar, 2002. "Self-Control for the Righteous: Toward a Theory of Precommitment to Indulgence," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 29(2), pages 199-217, September.
    13. Ruqaiijah Yearby, 2018. "Racial Disparities in Health Status and Access to Healthcare: The Continuation of Inequality in the United States Due to Structural Racism," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 77(3-4), pages 1113-1152, May.
    14. Julie L. Ozanne & Bige Saatcioglu, 2008. "Participatory Action Research," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 35(3), pages 423-439, March.
    15. Susan E. Mayer & Christopher Jencks, 1989. "Poverty and the Distribution of Material Hardship," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 24(1), pages 88-114.
    16. Tabea Bucher-Koenen & Annamaria Lusardi & Rob Alessie & Maarten van Rooij, 2017. "How Financially Literate Are Women? An Overview and New Insights," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 255-283, July.
    17. Gisele Kamanou & Jonathan Morduch, 2002. "Measuring Vulnerability to Poverty," WIDER Working Paper Series DP2002-58, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    18. Esther Maddux, 2002. "A Behavioral Model to Optimize Financial Quality of Life," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 155-177, December.
    19. Xu, Yilan & Beller, Andrea H. & Roberts, Brent W. & Brown, Jeffrey R., 2015. "Personality and young adult financial distress," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 90-100.
    20. Lea, Stephen E. G. & Webley, Paul & Walker, Catherine M., 1995. "Psychological factors in consumer debt: Money management, economic socialization, and credit use," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 681-701, December.
    21. O'Connor, Genevieve E. & Newmeyer, Casey E. & Wong, Nancy Yee Ching & Bayuk, Julia B. & Cook, Laurel A. & Komarova, Yuliya & Loibl, Cazilla & Lin Ong, L. & Warmath, Dee, 2019. "Conceptualizing the multiple dimensions of consumer financial vulnerability," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 421-430.
    22. Annamaria Lusardi, 2011. "Americans' Financial Capability," NBER Working Papers 17103, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Zeynep Copur & Michael S. Gutter, 2019. "Economic, Sociological, and Psychological Factors of the Saving Behavior: Turkey Case," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 305-322, June.
    24. Gergana Y. Nenkov & J. Jeffrey Inman & John Hulland, 2008. "Considering the Future: The Conceptualization and Measurement of Elaboration on Potential Outcomes," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 35(1), pages 126-141, November.
    25. Jodi C. Letkiewicz & Jonathan J. Fox, 2014. "Conscientiousness, Financial Literacy, and Asset Accumulation of Young Adults," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 274-300, June.
    26. Sondra G. Beverly & Marianne A. Hilgert & Jeanne M. Hogarth, 2003. "Household financial management: the connection between knowledge and behavior," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), issue Jul, pages 309-322.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Hamenoo, Emma Seyram, 2024. "Social workers’ perspective on the impact of Covid-19 on clients’ vulnerability in Ghana," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Noemi Oggero & Maria Cristina Rossi & Elisa Ughetto, 2020. "Entrepreneurial spirits in women and men. The role of financial literacy and digital skills," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 313-327, August.
    2. Ziyuan Lyu & Li Wei, 2021. "Information sources and participation in the Chinese insurance market: knowledge as a mediator," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 46(1), pages 79-106, January.
    3. French, Declan & McKillop, Donal, 2016. "Financial literacy and over-indebtedness in low-income households," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-11.
    4. Musah, Alhassan & Yakubu, Ibrahim Nandom & Abagna, Matthew Amalitinga, 2022. "Financial Literacy: A Peep into the Literature and Note for Policy," MPRA Paper 115703, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Maya Haran Rosen & Ofir Pinto & Olga Kondratjeva & Stephen Roll & Aytakin Huseynli & Michal Grinstein-Weiss, 2021. "Household Savings Decisions in Israel’s Child Savings Program: The Role of Demographic, Financial, and Intrinsic Factors," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(2), pages 368-386, June.
    6. J. C. Hauff & A. Carlander & T. Gärling & G. Nicolini, 2020. "Retirement Financial Behaviour: How Important Is Being Financially Literate?," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 543-564, September.
    7. M. M. Naeser Seldal & Ellen K. Nyhus, 2022. "Financial Vulnerability, Financial Literacy, and the Use of Digital Payment Technologies," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 281-306, June.
    8. Florian Deuflhard & Dimitris Georgarakos & Roman Inderst, 2019. "Financial Literacy and Savings Account Returns," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 131-164.
    9. Lusardi, Annamaria & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2011. "Financial literacy around the world: an overview," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(4), pages 497-508, October.
    10. Mohammed Ziaul Hoque, 2017. "Mental budgeting and the financial management of small and medium entrepreneurs," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1291474-129, January.
    11. Andrej Cupak & Pirmin Fessler & Maria Antoinette Silgoner & Elisabeth Ulbrich, 2018. "Financial literacy in Austria: a survey of recent research results," Monetary Policy & the Economy, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q1/18, pages 14-26.
    12. Suh, Ellie, 2022. "Can't save or won't save: financial resilience and discretionary retirement saving among British adults in their thirties and forties," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 110492, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Jian Li & Alexis Meyer‐Cirkel, 2021. "Promoting financial literacy through a digital platform: A pilot study in Luxembourg," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 73-87, January.
    14. Azwadi Ali & Mohd Rahman & Alif Bakar, 2015. "Financial Satisfaction and the Influence of Financial Literacy in Malaysia," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 120(1), pages 137-156, January.
    15. Mustabsar Awais & M. Fahad Laber & Nilofer Rasheed & Aisha Khursheed, 2016. "Impact of Financial Literacy and Investment Experience on Risk Tolerance and Investment Decisions: Empirical Evidence from Pakistan," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 6(1), pages 73-79.
    16. Sholevar, Maryam & Harris, Laurence, 2019. "Mind the gap: A discussion paper on Financial Literacy, Financial behaviour and Financial Education : Is there any Gender Gap?," OSF Preprints b7zd6, Center for Open Science.
    17. Jamie Wagner & William B. Walstad, 2023. "Gender Differences in Financial Decision-Making and Behaviors in Single and Joint Households," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 68(1), pages 5-23, March.
    18. Hyesun Hwang & Hyung In Park, 2023. "The relationships of financial literacy with both financial behavior and financial well‐being: Meta‐analyses based on the selective literature review," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 222-244, January.
    19. van Rooij, Maarten & Lusardi, Annamaria & Alessie, Rob, 2011. "Financial literacy and stock market participation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 449-472, August.
    20. Kenneth De Beckker & Kristof De Witte & Geert Van Campenhout, 2020. "The role of national culture in financial literacy: Cross‐country evidence," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(3), pages 912-930, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:jconsa:v:56:y:2022:i:3:p:1148-1177. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0022-0078 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.