Abstract
As of 2022, the Dutch pension system will be overhauled. The success of this as well as other pension reforms also depends on how participants react to and accept such changes. We therefore studied participants’ attitudes, beliefs, and emotions toward the new pension system. We composed a text to inform them about the new system and qualitatively analyzed their responses. We investigated which beliefs and attitudes prevail among different age groups. The results show that many participants base their comments on previous experiences, misconceptions and (sometimes false) interpretations of the information in the text. Moreover, we find that young people are more optimistic, whilst older participants tend to feel victimized. Since the new Dutch pension rules have yet to be introduced, the results of our study contain valuable information for policymakers and pension funds who should acknowledge and address the oftentimes intense emotions, beliefs, and attitudes that influence the way that intentionally neutral information is perceived and accepted. A diversified communication strategy, mindful of different beliefs, emotions and attitudes among participants should help to empower citizens to get insight in their financial situation after retirement and to make informed choices.
Highlights
In recent years, Italy, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have all made changes to their pension system (OECD, 2015)
While research in behavioral economics and psychology confirms that people often rely on heuristics and emotions in their decision making (e.g. Kahneman 2003; Thaler 2016), there is a lack of knowledge about which emotions, beliefs and attitudes play a role in the context of pension reforms and whether there is heterogeneity among participants
Emotions and attitudes since these are eminent factors in psychology when identifying people’s perceptions toward an attribute—in this case, the Dutch pension system
Summary
France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have all made changes to their pension system (OECD, 2015). Research shows that many participants lack financial literacy and have incomplete or incorrect knowledge about how pension systems work (e.g., van Rooij et al, 2011). This often results in beliefs (one that is commonly voiced is that “there will be no money left when I retire”) and negative emotions such as anger or anxiety (e.g. Eberhardt et al, 2021a, Eberhardt et al, 2021b), which can influence the understanding and interpretation of information, as well as the acceptance of the reform. Knowledge about the (diversity of) emotions, attitudes and beliefs towards a pension reform is important since they form the backbone against which participants process and interpret information about the reform, and influence their behaviors and acceptance of the reform
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