The primary goal of the present study is to investigate whether reducing feelings of financial shame and financial stigma increases the willingness to seek financial support. To do so, two websites...Show moreThe primary goal of the present study is to investigate whether reducing feelings of financial shame and financial stigma increases the willingness to seek financial support. To do so, two websites from the same organization offering financial support were designed. The first used neutral wording, whereas the second included language that aimed to reduce feelings of financial shame and financial stigma. Although results showed that the willingness to contact the organization was not significant between conditions, we found that participants visiting the modified website were more willing to recommend the organization to relatives and friends experiencing financial hardship than those on the neutral condition. Additionally, we found that participants visiting the modified website perceived the organization as more supportive and trustworthy and showed more adaptive coping mechanisms regarding their own financial situation. Lastly, results revealed that participants experiencing higher feelings of financial stigma perceived the organization as less competent.Show less
Financial shame can lead people to avoid seeking or accepting help with their financial problems. We expect that attenuating feelings of shame motivates people to seek help. To test this...Show moreFinancial shame can lead people to avoid seeking or accepting help with their financial problems. We expect that attenuating feelings of shame motivates people to seek help. To test this expectation, we conduct an experiment in which we present participants with an alleged website of an organisation that provides financial advice. They are presented with one of two versions. In one version the communication of the organisation is geared toward attenuating feelings of shame, whereas in the other it is not. As hypothesized, participants who experienced less shame perceived the organisation as more positive and were more likely to contact or recommend the organisation to friends or family, and these people dealt with the financial situation more constructively (hypothesis 1a-1c). Contrary to our hypothesis, only people with higher shame perceived the organisation as less positive and people with higher shame and stigma would contact or recommend the organisation less often to friends or family and handled their financial situation less constructively (hypothesis 2a-2c).Show less
People who are experiencing financial hardship often feel ashamed about their financial situation. This experienced shame prevents them from seeking contact with their creditor. A way to cope with...Show morePeople who are experiencing financial hardship often feel ashamed about their financial situation. This experienced shame prevents them from seeking contact with their creditor. A way to cope with this experienced shame is to build shame resilience. We built on shame resilience theory (Brown, 2006) by focusing on two elements: fostering connectedness and addressing shame. Participants were randomly assigned to the control condition or to the shame-resilience condition. In the control condition, participants read a standard creditor email. In the shame resilience condition, participants read an email that fostered connectedness and addressed shame. Our shame resilience email didn’t lead to a significant higher willingness to contact the helping organization or a decrease in avoidant tendencies. Our shame resilience email did lead to a significant decrease in shame. A practical implication of this is that we found a way to approach people experiencing (financial) shame, in order to reduce their shame.Show less
Financial scarcity raises negative consequences on individual and societal level. Much help is offered, but many people do not seek help. The goal of this research is to test whether an...Show moreFinancial scarcity raises negative consequences on individual and societal level. Much help is offered, but many people do not seek help. The goal of this research is to test whether an intervention designed to increase perceived financial self-efficacy increases the likelihood that people with financial problems take appropriate action. It is hypothesized that participants who are presented with a self-efficacy heightening website of an organisation that offers them financial help, perceive this organisation as more positive, are more likely to contact the organisation, and handle their situation more constructively (Hypothesis 1a, 1b, and 1c). It is expected that these effects are stronger when participants experience less control (Hypothesis 2a, 2b, and 2c). Results support hypothesis 1c and partly support hypothesis 2a: participants in the experimental condition rated the organisation as warmer, the lower they scored on self-efficacy, but not as more moral and competent. The other hypotheses were not supported.Show less
