Money in a “Safe” place: Money anthropomorphism increases saving behavior

Abstract

Saving has an important impact on consumers’ lives and life satisfaction. However, various indices indicate that consumers do not save enough. This research shows that a simple change in the perception of money by imposing humanlike characteristics (i.e., money anthropomorphism) can significantly increase savings. Specifically, we posit that imbuing money with humanlike characteristics can enhance both saving intention and real saving behavior because humanized money is considered to be capable of experiences such as pain or joy (perception of experiences) and, as a result, is more vulnerable and in need of protection (perception of vulnerability). By inserting money clipart or using first-perception language to describe money, we manipulate money anthropomorphism in six studies. In behavioral studies, we show that these money anthropomorphism manipulations increase real saving behavior by 18%. In addition, several alternative accounts, including warmth perception of money, autonomy toward money, perceived control over money, feeling guilty about spending money, and perceived importance of money, are ruled out. Furthermore, the results show that when the target account to keep money is considered risky, the positive money anthropomorphism on saving disappears. The findings provide important and practical implications for increasing personal savings.