Positive framing when assessing the personal resources to manage one's finances increases consumers' retirement self‐efficacy and improves retirement goal clarity

Abstract

People are increasingly expected to take an active role in preparing for a financially secure future, and thus face added personal financial responsibility. Unfortunately, many consumers lack the perceived ability to engage effectively in retirement planning (i.e., retirement self-efficacy) and accordingly fail to envision their financial future and set appropriate goals. However, little is known about how to improve consumers' retirement self-efficacy and when and why potential policy interventions will be more or less effective. In the current paper, we address this shortcoming of prior literature. Through a series of experiments, we show that when consumers assess personal resources to achieve a financially secure future, positive framing focusing on strengths instead of weaknesses is associated with higher retirement self-efficacy through an increased internal locus of control. Higher self-efficacy, in turn, leads to improved retirement goal clarity, with the improvement being more pronounced for individuals having a lower consideration of future consequences. In a follow-up study three months after the initial experimental intervention, we find that retirement goal clarity is positively associated with consumers' level of actual retirement planning activity. Finally, we replicate our findings using an advertisement as an alternative, marketing-relevant, manipulation.

Investigating Job Performance through Empowering Leadership: A Mediating role of Goal Clarity and Self-Efficacy in the Telecommunication Sector

“…Hence the study supported H6. These results are linked with the work of (Hoffmann & Plotkina, 2021;Hu & Liden, 2011).…”

“…The participatory influence of empowering leadership is the conception of goal clarity and its guiding and inspiring impact on staff's job performance. Goal clarity refers to how informed followers' daily problems relate to higher-level goals (Gonzalez-Mulé et al, 2016;Hoffmann & Plotkina, 2021). While a more recent study has identified some characteristics of goal clarity that may lead to underperformance, the findings from earlier studies remain useful (Chamberlin, Newton, & LePine, 2018).…”

“…Employees get emotional support and words mingled with encouragement, which results in a higher level of self-efficacy. Therefore, it is assumed that goal clarity and self-efficacy mediate between empowering leadership and employees' job performance (Datu et al, 2017;Hoffmann & Plotkina, 2021). So, the effective implementation of empowering leadership with mediating variables, goal clarity, and self-efficacy is considered a very dynamic and challenging area of research.…”

Financial Planning for Retirement: A Proposed Conceptual Framework

“…This insinuates that a well-defined financial goal establishes the road map or path that leads to the destination where an individual wants to reach financially (Lakhani & Gaikar, 2019). Goals play an important role in structuring long-term planning activities, and a clear retirement goal "reflects the act of thinking about, discussing, or setting goals for the future, particularly in relation to retirement quality of life" (Hoffmann & Plotkina, 2021).…”

Effects of plan specificity and eveningness–morningness orientation on health goal pursuit

“…Before people can be persuaded to follow recommendations, they must believe or be convinced that they have self‐efficacy. High self‐efficacy leads to goal clarity and is positively associated with actual planning activity (Hoffmann & Plotkina, 2021).…”