Scarcity Mindsets and Generational Differences in India: The Role of Cognitive and Affective Factors

Abstract

This article addressed the question of the role played by certain cognitive and affective factors in explaining the differences in scarcity mindsets of Gen Z, Millennials, and the Pre-millennial generations. Three cognitive factors, namely, horizontal individualism, belief in a just world and a spiritual belief factor, anasakti (non-attachment) along with five affective factors, personal relative deprivation, greed, need for achievement, positive and negative emotions were used as predictors of the scarcity mindsets. Pre-millennials showed a weaker scarcity mindset compared to the Millennials, who among the three had the strongest scarcity mindset. In the case of Gen Z, a downward trend in the scarcity mindset was observed. Male respondents had stronger scarcity mindset than females. Sequential Regression Analysis was used to understand the role played by cognitive and affective factors in predicting scarcity mindset for each generation. It found that cognitive factors were better predictors than affective factors in the case of all three generations. In the case of Gen Z, belief in a just world and anasakti significantly predicted a weak scarcity mindset. Belief in a just world also predicted a weaker scarcity mindset in case of the Millennials and Pre-millennial generations. Personal relative deprivation, an affective factor, was significantly associated with a weak scarcity mindset in the case of Millennials but inversely for the Pre-millennials. A high need for achievement raised the level of scarcity mindset, but only for the Millennial generation. Horizontal individualism and greed did not come out as significant predictors of the scarcity mindset for any generation. The results are discussed in the changing context of globalisation and the digital revolution.