Money Attitudes and Emotional Intelligence

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2040 ENGELBERG AND SJÖBERGThe present results thus suggest that EI is of greater value for explainingindividual differences in money orientation, or the importance attached tomoney and concomitant associations of negative affect, than for explainingbehavior involving the retention and budgeting of money.Overall results suggested that our hypotheses were confirmed. As for thefirst hypothesis, it was shown that emotionally intelligent individuals valuedmoney less as a sign of power, status, and prestige. When measuring EIprimarily as a cognitive ability, results suggested that the concept was linkedto a low degree of Money Orientation. Less money-oriented respondentswere more accurate when identifying emotions from facial expressions andsomewhat more emphatic, as well as better adjusted socially. This finding isconsistent with our previous research that a more accurate perception ofemotion in others is closely related to empathy and that these two variables,in turn, are related to a high degree of life adjustment (Engelberg & Sjo¨berg,2003a). When measuring EI specifically as a disposition, results furthersuggested that low money orientation was linked to high EI, as will bediscussed next with a focus on economic self-efficacy.Less money-oriented respondents were found to be more stable emotionally,geared toward achievement, and better able to withstand failureand deal efficiently with demanding challenges. Apparently, an ability toadapt to potentially emotion-eliciting demands (Izard, 2001) seems to extendinto a greater efficacy in dealing with issues involving money. The three selfreportmeasures were also found to relate to the perception of self as an ablemoney manager with a good sense of financial control, which further pointsto a higher degree of economic self-efficacy in this group of respondents.Interestingly, the measure of EI performance/Facial Expressions was foundto relate to perceptions of self as someone who has a firm sense of financialcontrol. As performance tests are considered to provide true and undistortedmeasures of actual ability (Ciarrochi et al., 2002; Sjo¨berg & Engelberg,2004), this result adds some strength to the conclusion that pronouncedmoney orientation is less prevalent among emotionally intelligent people.Furthermore, the results imply that the achievement drive usually ascribedto people of high EI (Boyatzis et al., 2001) does not emanate from amotive to acquire money for its symbolic meaning of power, prestige, andstatus. It could mean that a higher degree of intrinsic motivation could befound among emotionally intelligent people.Our final hypothesis was also confirmed, as results showed that a lowimportance attached to money is linked to a high degree of life adjustment.The regression analysis showed that the measure of Life Adjustment made anegative contribution toward the explanation of Money Orientation. Thisresult suggested that less money-oriented persons are more inclined to givean equal priority to work and leisure, which has been shown to also be the
MONEY ATTITUDES AND EI 2041case with people of high EI (Sjo¨berg, 2001a). The negative contribution ofEI Performance/Facial Expressions, as revealed by the same regressionanalysis, suggested that a more accurate perception of others’ emotions isconcomitant with social involvement among less money-oriented people. Arelaxed and more confident attitude toward money seems in other words tobe linked to a broader social integration, presumably because of a moreacute ability to perceive and process emotional information.The results similarly suggested that respondents with a penchant formoney seem to be less attuned to the social environment. As Money Orientationincludes aspects of anxiety and distrust of others, this result isconsistent with the essence of the different taxonomies of money behavior(Forman, 1987; Goldberg & Lewis, 1978). Money-oriented people tend toprioritize work over social engagements, because to these individuals it ismoney, and not a social network, that represents a buffer, support, or asense of security. It is however unclear whether a high level of money orientationemanates from less proficient skills to engage in social, relations orfrom the actual choice not to socialize extensively. Nonetheless, this line ofreasoning leads to the suggestion that future studies on EI should exploresocial competence, or social intelligence (Kihlstrom & Cantor, 2000) as atheoretically related concept.AcknowledgmentThis study was supported by a grant from the Stockholm School ofEconomics.ReferencesBailey, W., & Lown, J. M. (1993). A cross-cultural examination of theaetiology of attitudes towards money. Journal of Consumer Studies andHome Economics, 17, 391-402.Bar-On, R. (1997). Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i): Technicalmanual. Toronto, Canada: Multi-Health Systems.Bar-On, R. (2000). Emotional and social intelligence: Insights from theEmotional Quotient Inventory. In R. Bar-On & J. D. A. Parker (Eds.),The handbook of emotional intelligence (pp. 363-388). San Francisco, CA:Jossey-Bass.Boyatzis, R. E., Goleman, D., & Rhee, S. R. (2001). Clustering competencein emotional intelligence. In R. Bar-On & J. D. A. Parker (Eds.), Thehandbook of emotional intelligence (pp. 343-362). San Francisco, CA:Jossey-Bass.
Page 2 and 3: 2028 ENGELBERG AND SJÖBERGMeeske,
Page 5 and 6: MONEY ATTITUDES AND EI 2031The work
Page 7 and 8: MONEY ATTITUDES AND EI 2033money as
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Page 12 and 13: 2038 ENGELBERG AND SJÖBERGTable 3S
Page 16 and 17: 2042 ENGELBERG AND SJÖBERGBrief, A
Page 18 and 19: 2044 ENGELBERG AND SJÖBERGIzard, C
Page 20 and 21: 2046 ENGELBERG AND SJÖBERGSaarni,

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