Creating and Testing a Personal Finance Motivation Scale Based on Self-Determination Theory

Abstract

We create a Personal Finance Motivation scale to measure the motivation to understand and manage one's personal finances. The scale is designed to measure intrinsic motivation, four forms of extrinsic motivation (identified, introjected, external material, and external social regulation), and amotivation. These subscales fall along a self-determination continuum as postulated by Deci and Ryan (1985). We validate the scale using survey data and hypotheses drawn from Self-Determination Theory (SDT). Correlations among the subscales and Cronbach's alpha support the scale's factor structure and indicate internal consistency. Regression results indicate that intrinsic motivation and a composite of intrinsic motivation and identified regulation are associated with respondents' assessments of the importance of finance and their own competence related to financial decision-making, when respondents have someone to help them make decisions, and when respondents are not financially dependent on another. We conclude that our Personal Finance Motivation scale is sound and that its subscales are related to competence, relatedness, and autonomy as predicted by SDT. We discuss applications for researchers, instructors, and financial advisors.