Monetary Intelligence: Money Attitudes—Unethical Intentions, Intrinsic and Extrinsic Job Satisfaction, and Coping Strategies Across Public and Private Sectors in Macedonia

Abstract

Research suggests that attitudes guide individuals’ thinking and actions. In this study, we explore the monetary intelligence (MI) construct and investigate the relationships between a formative model of money attitudes involving affective (MI-A), behavioral (MI-B), and cognitive (MI-C) components and several sets of outcome variables—unethical intentions, intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction, and coping strategies. Based on 515 managers in the Republic of Macedonia, we test our model for the whole sample and also cross sector (public vs. private) and gender. Managers’ negative stewardship behavior (MI-B) and positive cognitive meaning of money (MI-C) define MI which, in turn, is related to unethical intentions (corruption, theft, and resource abuse). Positive cognition in the public sector and poor stewardship behavior in the private sector contribute to unethical intentions, respectively. Good stewards (MI-B) have higher intrinsic and lower extrinsic job satisfaction, those in the private sector, in particular. Affective motive (MI-A) and stewardship behavior are related to their stronger “approach” coping strategies and weaker “avoidance” coping strategies. Affective motive and stewardship behavior contribute to coping responses for managers in the public and private sectors, respectively. Further, the relationship between stewardship behavior and coping mechanisms exists for females, but not for males. We demonstrate that MI (money smart), a type of social intelligence, allows individuals to monitor their own emotions, behaviors, and cognitions and guides their thinking and actions.