Money Attitudes and Impulsive/Compulsive Buying Behaviour of Young Adults

Abstract

An individual’s attitude towards money is governed by various factors like family setup, financial status, hardships, social circle, education and others. The attitude one holds towards money defines his/her financial and social behaviour. It also impacts his/her saving behaviour thus deciding the financial security in retired years. Money attitude has a definite impact on an individual’s way of thinking and thus buying behaviour. Study of money attitude of a population determines the happiness quotient in the later years. It is imperative that we understand the attitude current generation has towards money. This will help educators and parents to design required interventions which will help adolescents to grow into financially prudent and satisfied investors. This study finds out the attitude urban Indian young adult has towards money using the new money attitude scale developed by Ivan F Beutler and Clinton G Gudmonson. The questionnaire was administered on 158 young adults in the age group of 16-21 years in Pune to find their attitude towards money with respect to: entitlement and conscientiousness, impulsive/compulsive buying behaviour and to find the relationship between money attitude and impulsive/compulsive buying behaviour. This is the first study, to the best knowledge of the authors, to find out the attitude towards money of Indian young adult using the new adolescent money attitude scale.