Spending Behavior of Management Students |

3
Spending Behavior
D’Silva (2008)
defined spending behavior as a conduct influencing the manner in which a man
utilize their money to fulfill their needs and needs with no utilization of
control.
He elaborated that the spending behavior of students today is fairly not quite the
same as before, he claimed that students are getting more into consumerism
consistently. Studies have shown different factors that can affect the spending
behavior of individuals, and these include demographic factors (Levenson, 2014),
age,sex, ethnicity (Villanueva, 2017),qualities and learning or education
(Norvilitis, et. Al, 2006).
Sex and Spending Behavior
A great deal is put into the issue whether females spend their money more compared
to males and vise versa. In a study conducted by Hayhoe et. al (2000 as cited in
Villanueva, 2017), results show that there is a strong influence of sex in spending
behavior. Females tend to spend on appearance goods like clothing while males spend
for electronics, entertainment and food. Females were also found to exhibit more
financial practices like keeping a written budget, planning spending and saving
regularly. This result was somehow contradicted by Roberts (2000 as cited by
Villanueva, 2017), who claimed that females are more likely to exhibit spending
behaviors, particularly compulsive buying compared to men. It was supported by De
Guzman (2011) who found out that female students tend to spend huge amount of money
on food and art materials while male students have different kind of priorities.
Male students also spend more on recreation and females spent more on books and
school supplies outspending males by 15% (Bailey, 2009).
Socioeconomic Status and Spending Behavior
According to Tew (2016), the spending behavior of students in modern times has
emerged as an essential concern in our society. He concluded that socioeconomic
status issue influences the spending behavior of the students. Koc and Ceylan
(2012), stated that consumers in lower status groups spend the biggest portion of
their income on food products. He added that the highest status consumers always
check the price labels of the food products with a high percentage (66.67 percent)
before purchasing. A total of 77 percent of study respondents stated that they were
open to spend in trying new food products. Meanwhile, consumers within the top
socioeconomic groups consider food ingredients carefully before purchasing.
Ethnicity and Spending Behavior
Ethnicity is an acquired and inheritable characteristic from a typical group. Seen
along these lines, ethnicity is viewed as a steady characteristic that has the
capacity
to influence one’s behavior.
Studies provide strong evidence for ethnic differences in spending behavior. In
the study of Villanueva (2017), it was proven that White Americans and Asians spend
significantly more than Black or African Americans and other ethnicities. It was
also found out that the ethnic identities had another difference at purchasing
amounts of goods, especially on consumption goods. Some research studies also
support the argument that culture based spending behaviour is heavily influenced by
ethnic identity and ethnicity (Intharacks 2017).
Year Level and Spending Behavior
According to a research of Westwood College in US (2009) most of the seniors and
college students budget the least of their allowance for transportation, books and
supplies but 40% on optional activities entertainment, apparel and services, travel
and vacation. Stollak (2010) stated that freshmen were much more likely to spend
all their dollars quickly than juniors and seniors. This could be due to lack of
awareness of their budget or not planning appropriately. Contrary to this, Bailey.
et. al(2009) said that juniors and seniors spent significantly more than freshmen
and sophomores on recreation, food, general merchandise and miscellaneous items.
Meanwhile, Villanueva (2017) claimed in his study that, freshmen and senior
students exhibit higher spending behaviors while sophomores and juniors exhibit
less spending.
Course and Spending Behavior
It has been made issue of whether financial education correlates with behavior
change as per previous studies. Several researchers have agreed that financial
education have brought upon a favorable outcome based on a conducted study from
distinct target population like that of employees, students and financial
counselling clients. To mention, long-term financial behavior had been ascertained
to have influenced by education (Cole, Paulson & Shastry 2012; Willis, 2009). It
was also found that there is a connection between education and financial behavior
(Nguyen, 2016). Moreover, financial seminars brought up a positive difference in
behavior (Borden et al., 2008). However, some authors are crucial of the impacts of
management education to that of behavior (Hensley, 2015). According to Farinella et
al., (2017), students’financial literacy has not improved after taking a management
course. This was elaborated by Mandell and Klein (2009) disagreeing that those who
took management course assesses themselves that there is no great impact on their
financial behavior rather, they didn’t appear as more financial literate than those
who did not took such course. Financial Education impacts on behavior change have
been charged of such issues due to a restricted evaluation measurements that have
been used. Some surveys use data from a single source such as a pre-test or post-
test, which is inadequate in data comparison in pre or post intervention (Lyons et
al., 2009). These debate do not reject the link between financial education and
behavior change, but they do imply that a more improved theory and evaluation
design work is claimed (Collins and Holden, 2014).