How does Social Integration, in Terms of Organizational Membership, affect Individuals’ Financial Savings Behavior? The Case of the Netherlands

Among many other factors, sociological developments drive individual savings behavior. Social interaction, in terms of organizational membership, can help the individual participate and take an active role in the intimidating process of savings behavior. This study investigates the influence of organizational membership on savings behavior, conditional on interpersonal trust. This analysis partially supports the existing theories that social interaction might alter savings behavior through social norms and human capital accumulation. The results of multivariate, logistic, and hierarchical regression models on a Dutch representative dataset indicate that organizational membership has a mixed effect on savings behavior. The effect mainly depends on the type of organization. On the one hand, membership in religious and political organizations is negatively associated with savings behavior. On the other hand, membership in cultural or scientific organizations is positively associated...Show moreAmong many other factors, sociological developments drive individual savings behavior. Social interaction, in terms of organizational membership, can help the individual participate and take an active role in the intimidating process of savings behavior. This study investigates the influence of organizational membership on savings behavior, conditional on interpersonal trust. This analysis partially supports the existing theories that social interaction might alter savings behavior through social norms and human capital accumulation. The results of multivariate, logistic, and hierarchical regression models on a Dutch representative dataset indicate that organizational membership has a mixed effect on savings behavior. The effect mainly depends on the type of organization. On the one hand, membership in religious and political organizations is negatively associated with savings behavior. On the other hand, membership in cultural or scientific organizations is positively associated with savings behavior. Furthermore, there is no statistically significant interaction effect between organizational membership and interpersonal trust. Finally, interpersonal trust has the largest share in explaining the variance in savings behavior.Show less

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How does Social Integration, in Terms of Organizational Membership, affect Individuals’ Financial Savings Behavior? The Case of the Netherlands