The Influence of Time Orientation on Personal Finance Behaviours

Abstract

Promoting responsible personal finance behaviours is an under-researched area in social marketing. Past literature has found that those who have a future-oriented mindset tend to make more positive financial decisions. The current study fills a conceptual gap in research by attempting to positively influence the future orientation levels of participants by exposing them to a brief priming stimulus. Although this attempt was not successful other results are encouraging. Low future orientation was associated with increased levels of debt; low present orientation was related to increased amounts of personal savings; and younger people tended to be more present-oriented. Also, predictors of savings satisfaction were found to include job security, financial knowledge, access to credit, family income, and total non-mortgage debt. Social marketers can use these personality and demographic indicators to segment populations into homogeneous segments and tailor marketing campaigns to motivate responsible borrowing and saving decisions.