What shapes spending styles: demographics, income or individual psychological traits?
What shapes spending styles: demographics, income or individual psychological traits?

Summary/Abstract: Financial behaviour is quite often explained by demographic variables (e.g. age, education) and the level of income. It turns out, however, that these variables only partially explain financial behaviour, and analyses that consider psychological variables (such as personality traits, self-control, time perspective) better explain the complexity of financial attitudes and can better predict financial behaviour. This article presents a model of Money Spending Styles based on two dimensions: (a) behavioural: ease of spending and control of expenses, and (b) emotional – emotions accompanying this behaviour (positive vs. negative). The model distinguishes four spending styles: Spendthrift, Belt-tightening, Happy spending, and Thrifty spending. Data presented from qualitative (in-depth individual interviews) and quantitative (surveys on representative samples) research show the difference between these styles as well as their dependency not only on demographic variables and income level, but also on psychological variables (as Big Five personality traits and time perspectives).

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