IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/epplan/v86y2021ics0149718921000033.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A socially responsible financial institution – The bumpy road to improving consumer well-being

Author

Listed:
  • Bialowolski, Piotr
  • Weziak-Bialowolska, Dorota
  • McNeely, Eileen

Abstract

There is a strong belief that in addition to making a profit, companies should act for the benefit of the society. This research has evaluated a novel cooperation model between a non-profit financial institution and a community service provider (a local YMCA) with the overarching aim of advancing customers’ well-being. By offering a financial incentive (a savings account with higher interest payouts, contingent on account holders’ increased participation in YMCA activities), the financial institution and the YMCA partnered to improve consumers’ financial standing, positive health behaviors, and overall well-being. The collaboration exemplified a business engagement in the community that goes beyond philanthropy.

Suggested Citation

  • Bialowolski, Piotr & Weziak-Bialowolska, Dorota & McNeely, Eileen, 2021. "A socially responsible financial institution – The bumpy road to improving consumer well-being," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:epplan:v:86:y:2021:i:c:s0149718921000033
    DOI: 10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2021.101908
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149718921000033
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2021.101908?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Richard H. Thaler & Shlomo Benartzi, 2004. "Save More Tomorrow (TM): Using Behavioral Economics to Increase Employee Saving," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(S1), pages 164-187, February.
    2. Leah Gjertson, 2016. "Emergency Saving and Household Hardship," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 1-17, March.
    3. Tamara Burdisso & Maximo Sangiacomo, 2016. "Panel time series: Review of the methodological evolution," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 16(2), pages 424-442, June.
    4. Annamaria Lusardi & Daniel Schneider & Peter Tufano, 2011. "Financially Fragile Households: Evidence and Implications," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 42(1 (Spring), pages 83-150.
    5. Luc Renneboog & Christophe Spaenjers, 2012. "Religion, economic attitudes, and household finance," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 64(1), pages 103-127, January.
    6. Piotr Bialowolski & Dorota Weziak-Bialowolska, 2014. "Erratum to: The Index of Household Financial Condition, Combining Subjective and Objective Indicators: An Appraisal of Italian Households," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 387-387, August.
    7. Simone Schaner, 2018. "The Persistent Power of Behavioral Change: Long-Run Impacts of Temporary Savings Subsidies for the Poor," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(3), pages 67-100, July.
    8. Bloemraad, Irene & Terriquez, Veronica, 2016. "Cultures of engagement: The organizational foundations of advancing health in immigrant and low-income communities of color," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 214-222.
    9. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, February.
    10. Lydia Lawless & Andreas Drichoutis & Rodolfo Nayga, 2013. "Time preferences and health behaviour: a review," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-19, December.
    11. Axel Börsch-Supan & Tabea Bucher-Koenen & Michela Coppola & Bettina Lamla, 2015. "Savings In Times Of Demographic Change: Lessons From The German Experience," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(4), pages 807-829, September.
    12. Condliffe, Simon & Işgın, Ebru & Fitzgerald, Brynne, 2017. "Get thee to the gym! A field experiment on improving exercise habits," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 23-32.
    13. Michael R. M. Abrigo & Inessa Love, 2016. "Estimation of panel vector autoregression in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 16(3), pages 778-804, September.
    14. Mark Taylor, 2011. "Measuring Financial Capability and its Determinants Using Survey Data," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 297-314, June.
    15. Piotr Bialowolski & Dorota Weziak-Bialowolska, 2014. "The Index of Household Financial Condition, Combining Subjective and Objective Indicators: An Appraisal of Italian Households," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 365-385, August.
    16. Leonardo Becchetti & Massimo Cermelli, 2018. "Civil economy: definition and strategies for sustainable well-living," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 65(3), pages 329-357, September.
    17. Arber, Sara & Fenn, Kirsty & Meadows, Robert, 2014. "Subjective financial well-being, income and health inequalities in mid and later life in Britain," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 12-20.
    18. Caliendo, Marco & Mahlstedt, Robert & Mitnik, Oscar A., 2017. "Unobservable, but unimportant? The relevance of usually unobserved variables for the evaluation of labor market policies," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 14-25.
    19. Enzo Grossi & Giorgio Tavano Blessi & Pier Sacco & Massimo Buscema, 2012. "The Interaction Between Culture, Health and Psychological Well-Being: Data Mining from the Italian Culture and Well-Being Project," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 129-148, March.
    20. Martin Berlin & Niklas Kaunitz, 2015. "Beyond Income: The Importance for Life Satisfaction of Having Access to a Cash Margin," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 16(6), pages 1557-1573, December.
    21. Carrera, Mariana & Royer, Heather & Stehr, Mark & Sydnor, Justin, 2018. "Can financial incentives help people trying to establish new habits? Experimental evidence with new gym members," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 202-214.
    22. Taylor, Mark P. & Jenkins, Stephen P. & Sacker, Amanda, 2011. "Financial capability and psychological health," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 710-723.
    23. Granger, C W J, 1969. "Investigating Causal Relations by Econometric Models and Cross-Spectral Methods," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 37(3), pages 424-438, July.
    24. van Praag, B. M. S. & Frijters, P. & Ferrer-i-Carbonell, A., 2003. "The anatomy of subjective well-being," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 29-49, May.
    25. Lim, Chaeyoon & Putnam, Robert David, 2010. "Religion, Social Networks, and Life Satisfaction," Scholarly Articles 11105537, Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
    26. Brüggen, Elisabeth C. & Hogreve, Jens & Holmlund, Maria & Kabadayi, Sertan & Löfgren, Martin, 2017. "Financial well-being: A conceptualization and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 228-237.
    27. Anderson, Anders & Baker, Forest & Robinson, David T., 2017. "Precautionary savings, retirement planning and misperceptions of financial literacy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(2), pages 383-398.
    28. Damon Jones & David Molitor & Julian Reif, 2019. "What do Workplace Wellness Programs do? Evidence from the Illinois Workplace Wellness Study," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(4), pages 1747-1791.
    29. Alexander Dahlsrud, 2008. "How corporate social responsibility is defined: an analysis of 37 definitions," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, January.
    30. Donkers, Bas & van Soest, Arthur, 1999. "Subjective measures of household preferences and financial decisions," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 20(6), pages 613-642, December.
    31. Yusi Gong & Taylor P Trentadue & Swastina Shrestha & Elena Losina & Jamie E Collins, 2018. "Financial incentives for objectively-measured physical activity or weight loss in adults with chronic health conditions: A meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(9), pages 1-16, September.
    32. Brown, Sarah & Gray, Daniel, 2016. "Household finances and well-being in Australia: An empirical analysis of comparison effects," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 17-36.
    33. Piotr Białowolski & Dorota Węziak-Białowolska & Tyler J. VanderWeele, 2019. "The impact of savings and credit on health and health behaviours: an outcome-wide longitudinal approach," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 64(4), pages 573-584, May.
    34. Robert L. Engle, 2007. "Corporate social responsibility in host countries: a perspective from American managers," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 14(1), pages 16-27, February.
    35. Wallerstein, N. & Duran, B., 2010. "Community-based participatory research contributions to intervention research: The intersection of science and practice to improve health equity," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(S1), pages 40-46.
    36. Dragos C Petrescu & Gareth J Hollands & Dominique-Laurent Couturier & Yin-Lam Ng & Theresa M Marteau, 2016. "Public Acceptability in the UK and USA of Nudging to Reduce Obesity: The Example of Reducing Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Consumption," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(6), pages 1-18, June.
    37. Michael R.M. Abrigo & Inessa Love, 2016. "Estimation of Panel Vector Autoregression in Stata: a Package of Programs," Working Papers 201602, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    38. Harris, Richard D. F. & Tzavalis, Elias, 1999. "Inference for unit roots in dynamic panels where the time dimension is fixed," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 91(2), pages 201-226, August.
    39. Burgard, Sarah A. & Seefeldt, Kristin S. & Zelner, Sarah, 2012. "Housing instability and health: Findings from the Michigan recession and recovery study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2215-2224.
    40. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra Todd, 1998. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 65(2), pages 261-294.
    41. Paloyo, Alfredo R. & Reichert, Arndt R. & Reuss-Borst, Monika & Tauchmann, Harald, 2015. "Who responds to financial incentives for weight loss? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 44-52.
    42. Hoelzl, Erik & Kapteyn, Arie, 2011. "Financial capability," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 543-545, August.
    43. Caliendo, Marco & Mahlstedt, Robert & Mitnik, Oscar A., 2014. "Unobservable, but Unimportant? The Influence of Personality Traits (and Other Usually Unobserved Variables) for the Evaluation of Labor Market Policies," IZA Discussion Papers 8337, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Piotr Bialowolski & Dorota Weziak-Bialowolska & Eileen McNeely, 2021. "The Role of Financial Fragility and Financial Control for Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 155(3), pages 1137-1157, June.
    2. Steffen Westermann & Scott J. Niblock & Jennifer L. Harrison & Michael A. Kortt, 2020. "Financial Advice Seeking: A Review of the Barriers and Benefits," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 39(4), pages 367-388, December.
    3. Igor Petruška & Eva Litavcová & Jana Chovancová, 2022. "Impact of Renewable Energy Sources and Nuclear Energy on CO 2 Emissions Reductions—The Case of the EU Countries," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-23, December.
    4. Tomasz Potocki & Sylwester Białowąs, 2023. "What Factors Predict a Positive Change in a Consumer’s Financial Capability over Time? The New Evidence from Poland," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(3), pages 634-654, September.
    5. Ayllón, Sara & Fusco, Alessio, 2017. "Are income poverty and perceptions of financial difficulties dynamically interrelated?," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 103-114.
    6. Bialowolski, Piotr & Weziak-Bialowolska, Dorota & Lee, Matthew T. & Chen, Ying & VanderWeele, Tyler J. & McNeely, Eileen, 2021. "The role of financial conditions for physical and mental health. Evidence from a longitudinal survey and insurance claims data," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 281(C).
    7. Seonho Shin, 2022. "Evaluating the Effect of the Matching Grant Program for Refugees: An Observational Study Using Matching, Weighting, and the Mantel-Haenszel Test," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 43(1), pages 103-133, March.
    8. Fukui Hideki, 2023. "Evaluating Different Covariate Balancing Methods: A Monte Carlo Simulation," Statistics, Politics and Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 14(2), pages 205-326, June.
    9. Al Guindy, Mohamed, 2021. "Cryptocurrency price volatility and investor attention," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 556-570.
    10. Alexandra-Anca Purcel, 2020. "Developing states and the green challenge. A dynamic approach," Post-Print hal-03182341, HAL.
    11. Sandra M. Sánchez‐Cañizares & L. Javier Cabeza‐Ramírez & M. Dolores Guerrero‐Baena, 2020. "Evaluation of self‐employment support policies using survival analysis. The discounted flat rate in Andalusia (Spain)," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 99(5), pages 1389-1411, October.
    12. Alexandra-Anca PURCEL, 2020. "Developing States and the Green Challenge. A Dynamic Approach," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 0(2), pages 173-193, July.
    13. Na Zhang & Jinqian Deng & Fayyaz Ahmad & Muhammad Umar Draz & Nabila Abid, 2023. "The dynamic association between public environmental demands, government environmental governance, and green technology innovation in China: evidence from panel VAR model," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(9), pages 9851-9875, September.
    14. Schmidl, Ricarda, 2015. "The Effectiveness of Early Vacancy Information in the Presence of Monitoring and ALMP," IZA Discussion Papers 9575, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Lage de Sousa, Filipe & Ottaviano, Gianmarco I.P., 2018. "Relaxing credit constraints in emerging economies: The impact of public loans on the productivity of Brazilian manufacturers," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 23-47.
    16. Marwil J. Dávila-Fernández, 2018. "Alternative Approaches to Technological Change when Growth is BoPC," Department of Economics University of Siena 795, Department of Economics, University of Siena.
    17. Caliendo, Marco & Künn, Steffen & Weißenberger, Martin, 2016. "Personality traits and the evaluation of start-up subsidies," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 87-108.
    18. Lee, Hyoungjin & Park, Junmin & Chung, Chris Changwha, 2022. "CEO compensation, governance structure, and foreign direct investment in conflict-prone countries," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(6).
    19. Dimitrios Karamanis, 2022. "Defence partnerships, military expenditure, investment, and economic growth: an analysis in PESCO countries," GreeSE – Hellenic Observatory Papers on Greece and Southeast Europe 173, Hellenic Observatory, LSE.
    20. Lepers, Etienne & Sánchez Serrano, Antonio, 2020. "Decomposing financial (in)stability in emerging economies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:epplan:v:86:y:2021:i:c:s0149718921000033. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/evalprogplan .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.