When Money Makes Employees Warm and Bright: Thoughts of New Money Promote Warmth and Competence

Abstract

Warmth and competence are two important dimensions that facilitate career success (e.g., building relationships, providing novel solutions to problems). We investigated how situational reminders of money affect warmth and competence. Specifically, we propose that reminders of new (vs. used) money increase people's warmth and competence. In five studies of working adults, inducing participants to think about new (vs. used) banknotes promoted creative idea generation (Study 1) (reflecting competence), increased concern for coworkers (Study 2), decreased self-serving behavior (Study 3), and increased helping intentions (Study 5) and behavior (Study 4) (reflecting warmth). Study 4 showed that the effect of priming new money on warmth occurs by activating a norm of social conscientiousness. Our findings suggest that money's appearance can impact problem solving, prorelationship behavior, and perceived norms. We discuss implications for research on money, norm salience, and organizational behavior.