By Margaret Echelbarger, Asst. Professor of Marketing Stony Brook University
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 3, 2022
1:00 pm – 2:15 pm
VIRTUAL ZOOM
From buying a latte at a local café to purchasing the latest Apple gadget, spending decisions are guided, in part, bynegative feelings associated with anticipated or experienced “pain of paying.” Adults differ in the degree to which they experience these negative feelings. More precisely, work in this area identifies three affective spending orientations: spendthrifts, tightwads, and unconflicted spenders, as assessed via the Tightwad-Spendthrift Scale.
Spendthrifts experience too little pain and spend more than they would ideally like; tightwads experience too much pain and spend less than they would ideally like. Unconflicted consumers are just that—unconflicted, spending as they would like. Spendthrifts and tightwads are both unhappy, but spendthrifts tend to carry more credit card debt and have less saved than tightwads. Given the financial implications and unhappiness associated with these orientations, Iexplore the connections between children’s spending orientations, spending behaviors, and parent-child talk about money-related behaviors.