Assignment:
Consumer Behavior - Spring 2018
Indebtedness of American College Students
Create a 5 page double-spaced pages, 12 pt. font.
Instructions
Read the research of Dwyer, McCloud, and Hodson (2011), the blog post of Carrns (2011), comments posted by readers of the blog post of Carrns (2011), as well as other literature related to consumer indebtedness. It will be necessary for you to draw from assigned chapter readings, in-class discussions, and published secondary research in fulfilling each of the following requirements:
• Provide background information on consumer indebtedness in the United States
o Provide a definition of consumer indebtedness that is consistent with consumer indebtedness indicators
o It will be necessary to differentiate between overall consumer indebtedness in the United States and the indebtedness of American college students
Your main focus should be on the indebtedness of American college students
Note how Dwyer, McCloud, and Hodson (2011) distinguish between different types of debt relevant to American college students
• Namely, education loans and credit-card debt
o Background information should include quantitative details of salient measures of consumer indebtedness as well as how consumer indebtedness in the United States relates to culture as measured by Hofstede
Present indebtedness levels, trends, etc.
Relevant dimensions of national culture
• Provide an analysis of the attitudes of American college students toward indebtedness based on the research of Dwyer, McCloud, and
Hodson (2011), the blog post of Carrns (2011), and comments posted by readers of the blog post of Carrns (2011)
o Note how Dwyer, McCloud, and Hodson (2011) report findings based on social class, debt status, and demographics
o Try to identify themes present in the reader comments, if possible
If themes are present, it may be possible to quantify their presence in the reader comments
• E.g., XX% of the commenting readers indicated SPECIFIC_THEME
• Conduct a review of the websites of five American financial institutions that serve American college students
o Report on specific tactics (in terms of stimuli and employed stimulus factors as well as promotion-focused motives versus prevention-focused motives) by which American financial institutions facilitate learning and encourage indebtedness among American college students
Be specific about the American financial institution you are referring to for each specific tactic
o Report on specific tactics (in terms of stimuli and employed stimulus factors as well as promotion-focused motives versus prevention-focused motives) by which American financial institutions facilitate learning and discourage indebtedness among American college students
Be specific about the American financial institution you are referring to for each specific tactic
• Making reference to the research, blog post, reader comments, AND your website analysis, discuss how attitudes toward indebtedness are learned by American college students
o It may be helpful to think about:
reference group influences
consumer socialization
consumer information processing (including perception and memory)
learning theories
List of References
Carrns, A. (2011). College students don't view debt as burden. Bucks.
Dwyer, R., McCloud, L., & Hodson, R. (2011). Youth debt, mastery, and self-esteem: Class stratified effects of indebtedness on self-concept. Social Science Research, 40: 727-741.
Review the book: Youth debt, mast ery , and self-e steem: Class-stratified effectsof indebtedness on self-conceptRachel E. Dwyer , Laura McCloud, Randy Hodson