Barriers to Access Consumer Finance and the Influence of Workforce Insecurity
Abstract
Workforce insecurity and the increasing importance of insecure work in developed countries such as Australia, Canada and the US are posing important economic and societal challenges which if not adequately addressed could have long-term negative generational effects not easily rectified. One such challenge comprises the potential interaction between workforce insecurity and personal financial capability and their consequent impact on access to consumer finance. Building on prior research this article integrates both attitudinal and behavioural variables using a cross-sectional nationally representative survey of 1104 Australian adults. The findings demonstrate the influence of personal financial capability on workforce insecurity, financial distress and the ability to access consumer finance. The implications for both government and business suggest that new mechanisms may be required to minimise the financial market distortions created by the expansion of workforce insecurity.
Keywords
Insecure work Workforce insecurity Financial literacy Consumer financeReferences
- Anderson, C. J., & Pontusson, J. (2007). Workers, worries and welfare states: Social protection and job insecurity in 15 OECD countries. European Journal of Political Research, 46(2), 211–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Anderson, R. E., & Swaminathan, S. (2011). Customer satisfaction and loyalty in e-markets: A PLS path modelling approach. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 19(2), 221–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Ashford, S., Lee, C., & Bobko, P. (1989). Content, causes, and consequences of job insecurity: A theory-based measure and substantive test. Academy of Management Journal, 32(4), 803–829.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- ABS. (2013). 5206.0 Australian national accounts: National income, expenditure and product, Canberra, AustraliaGoogle Scholar
- Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). (2011). Secure jobs. Better future. The Working Australia Papers, Melbourne. Retrieved from www.securejobs.org.au
- Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). (2012). Lives on hold: Unlocking the potential of Australia’s Workforce. The report of the Independent Inquiry into Insecure Work in Australia, Melbourne. Retrieved from www.securejobs.org.au
- ANZ Bank. (2011). Adult financial literacy in Australia. Full report of the results from the 2011 ANZ Survey Social Research Centre, Melbourne, Australia. Retrieved from www.anz.com/cr
- Atkinson, A., McKay, S., Collard, S., & Kempson, E. (2007). Levels of financial capability in the UK. Public Money & Management, 27(1), 29–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Benito, A. (2006). Does job insecurity affect household consumption? Oxford Economic Papers, 58(1), 157–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Borg, I., & Elizur, D. (1992). Job insecurity: Correlates, moderators and measurement. International Journal of Manpower, 13(2), 13–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Campbell, I. (2004). Casual work and casualisation: How does Australia compare? Labour and Industry, 15(2), 85–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Carroll, C. D. (2001). A theory of the consumption function, with and without liquidity constraints. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 15, 23–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Carroll, C. D., Dynan, K. E., & Krane, S. D. (2003). Unemployment risk and precautionary wealth: Evidence from households’ balance sheets. Review of Economics and Statistics, 85(3), 586–604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Clarke, M., Lewchuk, W., de Wolff, A., & King, A. (2007). This just isn’t sustainable: Precarious employment, stress and workers’ health. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 30(4/5), 311–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Fahmy, T. (2012). XLSTAT, version 2012. Addinsoft, Paris. Retrieved from www.xlstat.com
- Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Fox, J., & Bartholomae, S. (2010). Financial education and program evaluation. In J. J. Xiao (Ed.), Handbook of consumer finance research. New York: Springer Science + Business Media.Google Scholar
- Gefen, D., & Straub, D. (2005). A practical guide to factorial validity using PLSGraph: Tutorial and annotated example. Communications of the AIS, 16(25), 91–109.Google Scholar
- Giannetti, C., Madia, M., & Moretti, L. (2012). Job insecurity and financial distress. Social Science Research Network. Retrieved from http://ssrn.com/abstract=1991899
- Gonos, G. (1997). The contest over “Employer” status in the postwar United States: The case of temporary help firms’ 31 (1). Law and Society Review, 31(1), 81, 106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Greenhalgh, L., & Rosenblatt, Z. (1984). Job insecurity: Toward conceptual clarity. Academy of Management Review, 9, 438–448.Google Scholar
- Hair, J., Sarstedt, M., Ringle, C., & Mena, J. (2012). An assessment of the use of partial least squares structural equation modeling in marketing research. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 40(3), 414–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Hennig-Thurau, T., Henning, V., & Sattler, H. (2007). Consumer file sharing of motion pictures. Journal of Marketing, 71(4), 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Hogarth, J. M. (2002). Financial literacy and family and consumer sciences. Journal of Family and Consumer Sciences, 94(1), 15–28.Google Scholar
- Hulland, J. (1999). Use of partial least squares (PLS) in strategic management research: A review of four recent studies. Strategic Management Journal, 20(2), 195–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Huston, S. J. (2010). Measuring financial literacy. The Journal of Consumer Affairs, 44(2), 296–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Jacobson, D., & Hartley, J. (1991). Mapping the context. In J. Hartley, D. Jacobson, B. Klandermans, & T. Van Vuuren (Eds.), Job insecurity: Coping with jobs at risk (pp. 1–22). London, UK: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
- Lee, C., Bobko, P., & Chen, Z. X. (2006). Investigation of the multidimensional model of job insecurity in China and the USA. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 55(4), 512–540.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Lusardi, A. (1998). On the importance of the precautionary saving motive. American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, 88, 449–453.Google Scholar
- McCarthy, Y. (2011). Behavioural characteristics and financial distress. European Central bank, Working Paper Series No 1303 February 2011. Retrieved from http://www.ecb.europa.eu or from the Social Science.
- Ringle, C., Wende, M., & Alexander, S. W. (2005). SmartPLS2.0 (Beta), University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. Retrieved from http://www.smartpls.de
- Ryan, A., Trumbull, G., & Tufano, P. A. (2011). Brief postwar history of U.S. consumer finance. Business History Review, 85(3), 461–498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Slotegraaf, R. J., & Dickinson, P. R. (2004). The paradox of a marketing planning capability. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 32(4), 371–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Sverke, M., & Hellgren, J. (2002). The nature of job insecurity: Understanding employment insecurity on the brink of a new millennium. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 51(1), 23–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Watts, R. (2001). The ACTU’s response to the growth in long-term casual employment in Australia. Australian Bulletin of Labour, 27(2), 137–149.Google Scholar
- Weller, C., & Douglas, D. (2007). One nation under debt. Challenge, 50, 54–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Weller, C. (2010). Have differences in credit access diminished in an era of financial market deregulation? Review of Social Economy, LXVIII(1), 1–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Worthington, A. C. (2006). Predicting financial literacy in Australia. Financial Services Review, 15(1), 59–79.Google Scholar