Exploring the role of hope on indebtedness and risk perception related to consumer purchasing behaviour By Lucia Barros Organised by Merlien Institute's International conference on Qualitative Consumer Research & Insights, 7 & 8 April 2011, malta

1. Exploring the role of hope on
indebtedness
and risk perception related to consumer
purchasing behaviour
Lucia Barros
Fundação Getúlio Vargas / Centro Universitário FIEO
Delane Botelho
Fundação Getúlio Vargas
April, 2011.

2. INTRODUCTION
Hope is an important construct in marketing, once it is an antecedent of a
number of important marketing variables, such as trust, expectation and
satisfaction (MacInnis & de Mello 2005, Almeida, Mazzon & Botelho 2007).
Hope is an important element in the
purchase of personal credit. The process
of idealizing and the wish of a better
future play important roles, allowing one
to imagine himself enjoying a different
future situation (Fleming 2008).
It is suggested that high hope can lead to
lower risk perception, which can lead
consumers to harmful behaviours
(MacInnis & de Mello 2005).

3. RESEARCH PROBLEM
This research aims to investigate the
influence of hope on risk perception
and on propensity to indebtedness.

4. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
HOPE Congruent
and
Positive
Goal
Uncertainty
HOPE Importance
Perceived
Possibility

5. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
HOPE AND PURCHASE BEHAVIOUR
• The purchase and consumption of goods
and services are part of people’s goals.
• Consumption can be either the goal per
se or the means to achieve a greater
goal.
• Hope encourages consumers’ action,
which can be the evaluation, choice and
purchase of several products.
• When with high hope, people tend to
systematically look for congruent
information, which increases their belief
that their goals are possible.
• Hope was said to be an antecedent of
attitude, trust, expectations and
satisfaction.

6. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
HOPE AND RISK PERCEPTION
• When searching for congruent
information, people may ignore
information pointing to the likelihood of
negative consequences (MacInnis and de
Mello 2005).
• Thus, high levels of hope increases the
perception that the congruent outcome
can happen;
• Lower the perception of the possibility to
occur negative consequences;
• And of their severities;
• Besides increasing the perception that
the risk-return relation is worthwhile
(MacInnis and de Mello 2005).

7. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
HOPE AND PROPENSITY TO INDEBTEDNESS
• The purchase decision of financial products
involves a number of psychological, physic
and social values (Vitt 2004), which can
diminish precautions to maintain financial
balance.
• Hope is an emotion capable of generating this kind of behaviour.
Consumers may get indebted in order to achieve a goal which would
allow a dream to come true. (Fleming 2008).
• If risk perception is affected by hope; high hope can increase
consumer’s propensity to indebtedness.

8. METHODOLOGY
• The chosen method was individual in-depth interviews through
open and non-structured questions;
• Seven consumers were interviewed. Four of them recently got
indebted, while the other three were about to do it.
• Below is the profile of each interviewee.
Code Codename Age Gender Professional Activity
I1 Zezé 27 Female Public Relations
I2 Binho 31 Male Lawyer
I3 Amy 27 Female Fashion Designer
I4 Cacá 31 Male Lawyer
I5 Suzi 28 Female Travel Agent
I6 Sérgio 29 Male Economist
I7 Lara 27 Female English Teacher

9. METHODOLOGY
• The chosen interview script was the one used by Fleming (2008),
based on the method of narrative interview, in which the interviewee
tells a story as an improvised narrative (Flick, 2004).
• Specifically, the interviewees were asked to tell a story about the
moment they got or decided to get indebted. More details were asked
through open questions, and because of the non-structured script, new
questions were added throughout the interviews.
• These interviews were analyzed through the method of content
analysis, in which interviewees’ speech were recorded, coded and
categorized according to their similarities.

10. RESULTS
I called the first common category which arouse from the interviews as
“Goals”. When telling their stories about a situation in which they
became (or planned to become) indebted, all interviewees claimed to
have a major goal which they pursuit.
“The advantage is mobility... it is the possibility of not depending on other
people or on public transportation to come and go. It is a major change
in my possibility to commute.”(Zezé)
“I am in a new phase now, changing jobs and I am a very anxious
person and I end up eating and drinking too much. So, I decided to get
this treatment to become motivated, to fit my clothes again and to feel
better, to feel good about myself.”(Amy)
“To leave my mother’s house, to live with my boyfriend, to have our own
place.” (Lara)

11. RESULTS
• According to the literature, goals are produced when current life
circumstances are unsatisfactory, involving some kind of privation.
Unsatisfactor
y current Goals
situation
These unsatisfactory situations were found in the interviewees’ stories
and, consistently, they were the reason for the goals to be generated.
“It is insane that the public transportation is the way it is and doesn’t
guarantee my mobility with comfort… for instance, if I have to work in
Brooklin (a neighborhood in São Paulo) or even in Itaim (another
neighborhood in São Paulo), I will need three to four buses to get there
and the same to go back.” (Zezé)

12. RESULTS
• Snyder (2000) explains that when one has an important goal, he/she
produces pathways. The interviews showed that purchasing a product
can become an important pathway. Here, these products were
expensive, so being able to purchase them has become another goal
for the interviewees. I call it a “purchase goal”.
• “I intent to buy a car…” (Zezé)
• “Recently I purchased an aesthetic treatment…” (Amy)
• “I decided to buy a motorcycle.” (Sérgio)
• “An apartment. I still don’t know where, it will depend on the job I will
find.” (Lara)

13. RESULTS
• Consistent to Snyder (2000), to achieve these purchase goals, the
interviewees’ stories showed that they produced a number of
pathways. Because these goals were related to products they
perceived as expensive, getting indebted showed to be a common
strategy, in agreement with Fleming (2008).
Pathways = Important
Unsatisfactory Current
and Uncertain
Situation
Purchase Goal Goal

14. RESULTS
• According to Snyder (2000), one will only follow the pathways
produced to achieve his goals when s/he has a sense of agency, which
means that s/he believes s/he is able to do so. This sense of agency
was also found in the interviewees’ stories.
“I don’t think about this possibility (not being able to pay the
installment) because it’s a question of planning, organizing and
compromising with that amount every month…” (Binho)
“I think that from the moment we buy it, we compromise to pay it. It’s a
commitment, an amount we have to pay every month. If there is any
emergency and we can’t pay, we have to renegotiate, but keep on
paying it.” (Lara)

15. RESULTS
• This sense of agency seems to reduce their risk perception. In other
words, because they see getting indebted as a pathway to buy the
products they want and they have enough agency to pursue this
pathway, the risks involving indebtedness seem smaller. The
interviewees rarely talked about risks before being asked about it.
When asked, they remembered that risks could occur.
“Yes, I think about them (the risks), but on this case, I didn’t worry
because I was sure I could pay it.” (Binho)
“No, (I haven’t thought about the risks) because I know I’ll pay it. I’ll pay
it. Different from other people who may think “no problem, I’ll think
about it later.” (Sérgio)

16. RESULTS
• In addition to the sense of agency, positive images about the
expected goal accomplishment also seemed to influence a reduction
on risk perception, consistently to MacInnis and Price (1987). All
interviewees showed positive images when they talked about their
goals.
“At the coffee shop. I know I’ve never done it, but this image had come
to my mind. I was having a coffee at Starbucks, near my house: “Ah, I
wish I could have my notebook here. Using it, feeling comfortable,
having a Frapuccino…” I haven’t done it yet because… I don’t know.”
(Suzi)
“I imagine how I am going to decorate it, what it’s going to have, what I
need to buy. I need to buy a lot of things. Now, I’m worried only with the
essential, like stove, fridge, bed, bathroom, that’s all.” (Lara)

17. RESULTS
• Because goals, agency, pathways, importance and uncertainty were
found on the interviewees’ speeches, it is presumable that when a
consumer decides to get indebted, it is because there is hope.
“It is a certainty that things are going right, you rush in order to make
sure things go the way you want.” (Zezé)
“I believe I will either get close to my goal or achieve it. I think it will be
difficult to go beyond it. But if I reach my goal or get close to it, it’s
already fine.” (Amy)
“I lack an easier income. I lack a more secure job, which pays me
better. I believe that at the moment, I just have to look for it. We were
talking about risks, right? What I think is that because the amount is
large, there is always a risk. I’ll spend some years to pay it. Hope
everything goes right…” (Lara)

18. RESULTS
• Finally, it could be noticed that when goals were achieved, hope gave
place to satisfaction, in accordance with the literature (MacInnis and de
Mello 2005, Almeida, Mazzon and Botelho 2007, MacInnis and Chun,
2007).
“It’s what I was expecting.” (Binho)
“I felt great satisfaction. It seems it’s a new child, say, for me to take
care of because it was a good acquisition. It was worth buying it.” (Suzi)
“It was very good. Speeded things up, as I wanted it. It made my
weekends easier as well. So, it was great.” (Sérgio)

19. DISCUSSION
Hope Satisfaction
=
Agency
+
Pathways = Important
Unsatisfactory Current
and Uncertain
Situation
Purchase Goal Goal
Agency +
Risk Perception

20. DISCUSSION
• Hope exists when there is an important and uncertain goal caused by an
unsatisfactory current situation, and there are pathways and agency to
pursue this goal (Hamilton 1978, Clotfelter and Cook 1989, Lazarus 1999,
Snyder 1994, 2000, 2002, MacInnis and de Mello 2005, Bruininks and Malle
2006, Fleming 2008).
• This sense of agency can make a person underestimate the risks
involving the goal and getting indebted appeared as a pathway to
achieve it. At the end, when consumers achieved the desired goal, hope
gave place to satisfaction.
• These results expand the current literature in two ways: (1) they
integrate concepts from different theoretical schools, and (2) they
integrate three constructs (hope, risk perception and propensity to
indebtedness) in one theoretical model. They also corroborate to the
linkage between hope and satisfaction, what has already been proposed
by the literature (MacInnis and de Mello 2005, Almeida, Mazzon and Botelho
2007, MacInnis and Chun, 2007).

21. Presented at the International conference on
Qualitative Consumer Research & Insights
7 & 8 April 2011, Malta
For more information
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