Hope Kent, Amanda Kirby, George Leckie, Rosie Cornish, Lee Hogarth and W. Huw Williams
Looked after children (LAC) are criminalised at five times the rate of children in the general population. Children in contact with both child welfare and child justice systems…
Abstract
Purpose
Looked after children (LAC) are criminalised at five times the rate of children in the general population. Children in contact with both child welfare and child justice systems have higher rates of neurodisability and substance use problems, and LAC in general have high rates of school exclusion, homelessness and unemployment. This study aims to understand whether these factors persist in LAC who are in prison as adults.
Design/methodology/approach
Administrative data collected by the Do-IT profiler screening tool in a prison in Wales, UK, were analysed to compare sentenced prisoners who were LAC (n = 631) to sentenced prisoners who were not LAC (n = 2,201). The sample comprised all prisoners who were screened on entry to prison in a two-year period.
Findings
Prisoners who were LAC scored more poorly on a functional screener for neurodisability (effect size = 0.24), and on four self-report measures capturing traits of dyslexia (0.22), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (0.40), autism spectrum disorders (0.34) and developmental co-ordination disorder (0.33). Prisoners who were LAC were more likely to have been to a pupil referral unit (0.24), have substance use problems (0.16), be homeless or marginally housed (0.18) and be unemployed or unable to work due to disability (0.13).
Originality/value
This study uniquely contributes to our understanding of prisoners who were LAC as a target group for intervention and support with re-integration into the community upon release. LAC in prison as adults may require additional interventions to help with employment, housing and substance use. Education programmes in prison should screen for neurodisability, to develop strategies to support engagement.
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Srinivasa Reddy N and Jayanthi Thanigan
The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents of customer satisfaction during mortgage purchases. Mortgage demand in the USA has reached an all-time high because of an…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents of customer satisfaction during mortgage purchases. Mortgage demand in the USA has reached an all-time high because of an increase in housing demand after COVID-19. Nonetheless, several customers are dissatisfied with their service providers. Customers who actively search the market gain more information about mortgage providers and use this information to define expectations for lenders. The only way there will be customer satisfaction is if lenders meet these expectations. Therefore, it is economically significant for mortgage lenders to discover the antecedents of mortgage satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the partial least squares approach was used to test the hypothesis that satisfaction was influenced by objective knowledge, familiarity and search intensity among a sample of customers (n = 4,512) from the National Survey of Mortgage Originations who had purchased a mortgage in the USA between 2019 and 2020.
Findings
The results of structural modelling showed that familiarity (β = 0.23 and p = 0.01) with and knowledge (β = 0.16 and p = 0.01) of mortgages significantly affected consumer satisfaction during mortgage purchase. Search intensity (p = 0.01) mediated the relationship between knowledge, familiarity and satisfaction.
Research limitations/implications
The primary implication is that mortgage service providers should prioritise educating customers about the mortgage buying process on their websites and in person. So managers must actively assist clients in having realistic expectations. Second, mortgage companies should establish a presence on third-party mortgage comparison websites to ensure that customers actively consider alternatives, thereby increasing customer satisfaction.
Originality/value
This study is unique in being an exploratory study to examine the antecedents of mortgage satisfaction using a public data set. This study uniquely examines the National Survey of Mortgage Originations data set with partial least squares approach to examine underlying customer attitudes.
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Bruce A. Huhmann and Shaun McQuitty
The purpose of this article is to develop a theoretical explanation – financial numeracy – for consumer proficiency with financial services. With sufficient financial numeracy…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to develop a theoretical explanation – financial numeracy – for consumer proficiency with financial services. With sufficient financial numeracy, consumers benefit fully from financial services and make competent choices in regard to financial management.
Design/methodology/approach
The article builds theory by combining consumer cognitive capacity and customer knowledge theories with findings from prior studies of consumer difficulties with financial services to introduce a comprehensive model of the antecedents and consequences of financial numeracy with testable propositions for many psychographic and cultural influences and moderators.
Findings
Financial numeracy demands that consumers possess sufficient financial information processing capacity and ability as well as sufficient prior knowledge of financial concepts. Although partly a function of individual cognitive ability, it can be enhanced through appropriate experience with financial instruments and familiarity through personal financial materials when consumers are motivated to process them. Financial numeracy directly affects financial management outcomes related to borrowing, saving, and taxes. It indirectly affects higher‐order financial consequences, such as a consumer's credit score, interest rates charged on subsequent loans, net worth, likelihood of bankruptcy, and size of inheritance.
Originality/value
Consumers around the world are increasingly experiencing difficulties with financial services. To advance research in financial services marketing beyond documenting troublesome financial behaviours of consumers, this conceptual model provides insights to help increase consumer proficiency in comprehending and managing financial services based on knowledge about consumer information processing, learning, memory and the cultural and psychographic influences on these internal processes.
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Joshua Buch, Kenneth L. Rhoda and James Talaga
Regulators in the UK and the USA recognize the need to assist borrowers that face a huge number of mortgage products with a multitude of fee combinations offered by a large number…
Abstract
Regulators in the UK and the USA recognize the need to assist borrowers that face a huge number of mortgage products with a multitude of fee combinations offered by a large number of lenders. For over 25 years they attempted to make the mortgage selection process more borrower‐friendly but, for many reasons, the efficacy of the chosen comparison tool, the Annual Percentage Rate (APR), is questionable. Because many consumers are either unwilling or unable to make price comparisons between mortgages based on the APR, we suggest replacing the APR with a new measure called the Annual Effective Rate (AER). The AER is based on the actual length of time the borrower expects to maintain the loan and the assumption that all up‐front loan costs are financed. In addition, we suggest that this comparison rate only be presented for true fixed‐rate loans and that all up‐front cost categories that are used in computing the AER be standardized.
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The purpose of this study is to construct composite index variables of credit attitude using six attitudinal variables. This study also examines the relationship between consumer…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to construct composite index variables of credit attitude using six attitudinal variables. This study also examines the relationship between consumer credit attitude and credit card debt behaviors.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used the pooled dataset of the 2010 and 2013 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) released by the Federal Reserve Board. A total of 8,417 households were used as our analytic sample. The credit card indices were constructed using factor analysis with polychoric correlations. Factors of the credit card debt behaviors were estimated using hierarchical logistic regression models.
Findings
The results of factor analysis identified two credit attitude indices (wants and needs). The results of hierarchical logistic regression analyses show that the credit attitude indices have a positive influence on payment behaviors; households with more favorable attitudes about credit use for non-necessities (wants) were more likely to hold an outstanding credit card balance, have irregular payment practice and pay a revolving charge.
Originality/value
Although there is ample documentation in the literature of credit behavior, the current literature is deficient in some areas for not addressing unobserved consumer attitudinal dispositions. Further, the separate treatment of selected survey items or an additive scale of survey items has been widely used; however, this approach cannot capture multidimensional characteristics among attitudinal items if credit attitude is not necessarily unidimensional. In response to the shortfall in the extant literature on credit card behavior, this study examined multidimensional aspects of credit attitude as a determinant of credit card debt behavior through methodological justification. Implications for future research and practitioners are provided.
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Wendy Ming‐Yen Teoh, Siong‐Choy Chong and Shi Mid Yong
This paper explores factors affecting spending behavior of credit card holders in Malaysia. Specifically, variables such as demographic factors, banks’ policies, and credit card…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper explores factors affecting spending behavior of credit card holders in Malaysia. Specifically, variables such as demographic factors, banks’ policies, and credit card holders’ attitudes toward money are examined.
Design/methodology/approach
A cross‐sectional survey through the use of a structured questionnaire was administered on 150 credit card holders based on the area sampling and convenience snowball sampling techniques.
Findings
The results indicate that age, income, and marital status have significant correlation with credit card holders’ spending behavior. The same goes to two of the three items identified under banks’ policies (benefits given and payment policies) and attitudes toward money (willingness to pay and awareness of the total debt owed). Occupation, qualifications to apply for credit card, and management of income vs expenses are not significantly related to credit card spending behavior among Malaysians.
Research limitations/implications
The study serves as a guide for researchers to extend the research work covering more variables in different economies in light of the low R2 value. The small sample size raises the issue of generalizability, which future studies should address.
Practical implications
The results could be used as a guide by emerging market economies or even developed countries where credit card usage is a widespread phenomenon. It also provides insights to the credit card issuing banks in terms of understanding their target consumers, preferences, and the effect of their policies on credit card application and use.
Originality/value
This study sheds light on credit card spending behavior, particularly among Malaysians.
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Consumers tend to have problems interpreting cost information, such as the annual percentage rate (APR), pertaining to loans. Students were used to test people's spontaneous…
Abstract
Consumers tend to have problems interpreting cost information, such as the annual percentage rate (APR), pertaining to loans. Students were used to test people's spontaneous estimates of loan cost when only the payment pattern was known, but not the APR or the total finance charge (FC). Experiments show that some absolute measures such as the FC seem to be used rather than relative measures when ranking loans. This leads to a bias against loans of longer duration. This can be avoided by using a heuristic, an approximate APR, by a simple development of the FC. The last section examines the problem of estimating the duration change when the interest rate is altered. Experiments show that the duration is generally underestimated when only the payment pattern and the interest rate are known. If the FC per month is known the situation improves somewhat, but still the effects on the duration of changing interest rates are underestimated.
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Jacquelyn Warwick and Phylis Mansfield
Given the proliferation of the credit card industry in today’s US households, and the aggressive promotional tactics employed to get college students to sign on as customers, this…
Abstract
Given the proliferation of the credit card industry in today’s US households, and the aggressive promotional tactics employed to get college students to sign on as customers, this exploratory study takes a look at the credit card activity of college students at one Midwestern campus. The majority of students surveyed did not report knowledge of their credit card interest rate, although approximately half did report knowing their credit balance and credit limit. Students appear to have a realistic attitude toward the use of credit cards.
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Tina Harrison, Kathryn Waite and Phil White
Attempts to understand the consumer behaviour in the context of the pension purchase process, including the decision process and factors affecting the decision.
Abstract
Purpose
Attempts to understand the consumer behaviour in the context of the pension purchase process, including the decision process and factors affecting the decision.
Design/methodology/approach
Focus groups were conducted among manual and clerical grades of employees within a public sector organization who were members of an occupational pension scheme.
Findings
Despite the relative importance of pensions and the degree of risk associated with the purchase, the findings clearly indicate that purchasing decisions in this context are neither completely informed nor rational. The process described by focus group participants suggests “analysis by paralysis”, characterized by complexity, confusion and apathy.
Research limitations/implications
Small number of focus groups and a focus on manual and clerical grades of employment only. A larger sample and representation of other grades of employment might yield differences in decision making between different segments of the population.
Practical implications
Provides useful insights for providers of pensions in understanding the role of information, reference groups and professional advice in the marketing of pensions.
Originality/value
Addresses a key concern of government – insufficient pension provision – and helps to understand some of the barriers and challenges facing individuals in making pension decisions.