IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/jofsma/v23y2018i1d10.1057_s41264-018-0042-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding credit card payment behavior among college students

Author

Listed:
  • Shweta Singh

    (Kean University)

  • David H. Rylander

    (Texas Woman’s University)

  • Tina C. Mims

    (Texas Woman’s University)

Abstract

College students remain a lucrative target market for credit card companies even after the advent of the Credit Card Act of 2009. Unfortunately, many students are not prepared to use credit responsibly or make payments in a timely manner. Numerous studies reveal risky student credit behaviors, lack of credit knowledge or irresponsible management of credit. However, there remains a need for more information on college students’ payment behaviors. This paper aims to explain credit card payment behavior among college students by segmenting college students into payment behavior groupings. Using an online survey, students provided their credit card payment activity and demographic characteristics. The results of this study shed light on different credit card payment behaviors by segmenting college students into four behavioral segments based on useful characteristics. Clear distinctions exist between segments who behave in responsible ways versus those who do not practice responsible behaviors. These segmentation results add to the understanding of Lyons (2004; Journal of Consumer Affairs 38 (1): 56–80) who determined a means of identifying Financially at Risk students (FAR) with payment behavior. Given potentially dangerous effects of targeted credit card marketing to college students, findings about payment behavior of college students will help policymakers, credit card companies and college administrators.

Suggested Citation

  • Shweta Singh & David H. Rylander & Tina C. Mims, 2018. "Understanding credit card payment behavior among college students," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(1), pages 38-49, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:jofsma:v:23:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1057_s41264-018-0042-0
    DOI: 10.1057/s41264-018-0042-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41264-018-0042-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41264-018-0042-0?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. Duca, John V & Whitesell, William C, 1995. "Credit Cards and Money Demand: A Cross-sectional Study," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(2), pages 604-623, May.
    2. Dunkelberg, William C & Smiley, Robert H, 1975. "Subsidies in the Use of Revolving Credit," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 7(4), pages 469-490, November.
    3. Awh, Robert Y & Waters, D, 1974. "A Discriminant Analysis of Economic, Demographic, and Attitudinal Characteristics of Bank Charge-Card Holders: A Case Study," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 29(3), pages 973-980, June.
    4. Cliff Robb, 2011. "Financial Knowledge and Credit Card Behavior of College Students," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 690-698, December.
    5. Dilip Soman & Amar Cheema, 2002. "The Effect of Credit on Spending Decisions: The Role of the Credit Limit and Credibility," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 21(1), pages 32-53, September.
    6. Shweta Singh & David H. Rylander & Tina C. Mims, 2016. "College students and credit card companies: Implications of attitudes," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(3), pages 182-193, September.
    7. Norvilitis, Jill M. & MacLean, Michael G., 2010. "The role of parents in college students' financial behaviors and attitudes," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 55-63, February.
    8. Sheri Worthy & Jeffrey Jonkman & Lynn Blinn-Pike, 2010. "Sensation-Seeking, Risk-Taking, and Problematic Financial Behaviors of College Students," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 161-170, June.
    9. Davies, Emma & Lea, Stephen E. G., 1995. "Student attitudes to student debt," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 663-679, December.
    10. James W. Peltier & Andrew J. Dahl & John E. Schibrowsky, 2016. "Sequential loss of self-control: Exploring the antecedents and consequences of student credit card debt," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(3), pages 167-181, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yu Hao & Shuang Liu & Zhu Liduzi Jiesisibieke & Yi-Jie Xu, 2019. "What Determines University Students’ Online Consumer Credit? Evidence From China," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(1), pages 21582440198, March.
    2. Lova Rajaobelina & Line Ricard, 2021. "Classifying potential users of live chat services and chatbots," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(2), pages 81-94, June.
    3. Asli Elif Aydin, 2022. "Psychological and demographic factors influencing responsible credit card debt payment," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(1), pages 17-26, March.
    4. Alex Yue Feng Zhu, 2020. "Impact of Financial Education on Adolescent Financial Capability: Evidence from a Pilot Randomized Experiment," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(4), pages 1371-1386, August.
    5. Hadi Ibrahim & Ibn Kailan Abdul-Hamid & Muhammed Abdulai, 2021. "Revisiting Young Customers’ Bank Selection and Loyalty Decisions in Ghana," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 7(2), pages 203-226, April.
    6. Alam, Md. Mahmudul & Ibrahim, Yusnidah Bt & Sriyana, Jaka, 2022. "Do Education Sector Credit Cards Differ with Other Credit Cards in Malaysia?," OSF Preprints h9b7c, Center for Open Science.
    7. Liu, Liu & Zhang, Hua, 2021. "Financial literacy, self-efficacy and risky credit behavior among college students: Evidence from online consumer credit," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).

    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. Shweta Singh & David H. Rylander & Tina C. Mims, 2016. "College students and credit card companies: Implications of attitudes," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(3), pages 182-193, September.
    2. Jill M. Norvilitis, 2014. "Changes over Time in College Student Credit Card Attitudes and Debt: Evidence from One Campus," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(3), pages 634-647, October.
    3. Marco FRIGERIO & Cristina OTTAVIANI & Daniela VANDONE, 2018. "A Meta-Analytic Investigation of Consumer Over-Indebtedness: the Role of Impulsivity," Departmental Working Papers 2018-08, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    4. Popovich, Jacob J. & Loibl, Cäzilia & Zirkle, Christopher & Whittington, M. Susie, 2020. "Community college students’ response to a financial literacy intervention: An exploratory study," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    5. Clinton Gudmunson & Sharon Danes, 2011. "Family Financial Socialization: Theory and Critical Review," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 644-667, December.
    6. Suzanne Bartholomae & Jonathan J. Fox, 2021. "A Decade Review of Research on College Student Financial Behavior and Well-Being," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 154-177, July.
    7. Catherine Stein & Erica Hoffmann & Erin Bonar & Jaclyn Leith & Kristen Abraham & Alexis Hamill & Shane Kraus & Shinakee Gumber & Wendy Fogo, 2013. "The United States Economic Crisis: Young Adults’ Reports of Economic Pressures, Financial and Religious Coping and Psychological Well-Being," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 200-210, June.
    8. Adam Hancock & Bryce Jorgensen & Melvin Swanson, 2013. "College Students and Credit Card Use: The Role of Parents, Work Experience, Financial Knowledge, and Credit Card Attitudes," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 34(4), pages 369-381, December.
    9. Stefano Cosma & Francesco Pattarin, 2012. "Attitudes, personality factors and household debt decisions: A study of consumer credit," Centro Studi di Banca e Finanza (CEFIN) (Center for Studies in Banking and Finance) 12021, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    10. Cliff A. Robb, 2017. "College Student Financial Stress: Are the Kids Alright?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 38(4), pages 514-527, December.
    11. Rahul Khandelwal & Ashutosh Kolte & Nitin Veer & Pratik Sharma, 2022. "Compulsive Buying Behaviour of Credit Card Users and Affecting Factors Such as Financial Knowledge, Prestige and Retention Time: A Cross-sectional Research," Vision, , vol. 26(2), pages 172-180, June.
    12. Asli Elif Aydin, 2022. "Psychological and demographic factors influencing responsible credit card debt payment," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 27(1), pages 17-26, March.
    13. Veneta Sotiropoulos & Alain d’Astous, 2013. "Attitudinal, Self-Efficacy, and Social Norms Determinants of Young Consumers’ Propensity to Overspend on Credit Cards," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 179-196, June.
    14. Machteld Hoeve & Geert Jan J M Stams & Marion van der Zouwen & Margaretha Vergeer & Kitty Jurrius & Jessica J Asscher, 2014. "A Systematic Review of Financial Debt in Adolescents and Young Adults: Prevalence, Correlates and Associations with Crime," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(8), pages 1-16, August.
    15. Kara, Ali & Kaynak, Erdener & Kucukemiroglu, Orsay, 1996. "An empirical investigation of US credit card users: Card choice and usage behavior," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 209-230, April.
    16. Cliff Robb, 2011. "Financial Knowledge and Credit Card Behavior of College Students," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(4), pages 690-698, December.
    17. Catherine P. Montalto & Erica L. Phillips & Anne McDaniel & Amanda R. Baker, 2019. "College Student Financial Wellness: Student Loans and Beyond," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 3-21, March.
    18. Danilo Braun Santos & Wesley Mendes-Da-Silva & Jill M. Norvilitis & Philippe Protin & Luciana Onusic, 2022. "Parents Influence Responsible Credit Use in Young Adults: Empirical Evidence from the United States, France, and Brazil," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 368-383, June.
    19. Gibbons, Brian & Paxton, Julia, 2015. "Youth and inexperience: Dynamic inconsistency among emerging adults," Economics Discussion Papers 2015-19, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    20. Harrison, Neil & Agnew, Steve & Serido, Joyce, 2015. "Attitudes to debt among indebted undergraduates: A cross-national exploratory factor analysis," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 62-73.

    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:pal:jofsma:v:23:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1057_s41264-018-0042-0. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.palgrave.com .

    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.