Students’ concern about indebtedness: A rank based social norms account

Journal article

Aldrovandi, S., Wood, A. M., Maltby, J. and Brown, G.D. A. (2015). Students’ concern about indebtedness: A rank based social norms account. Studies in Higher Education . 40 (7), pp. 1307-1327. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2014.881349
AuthorsAldrovandi, S., Wood, A. M., Maltby, J. and Brown, G.D. A.
Abstract

This paper describes a new model of students' concern about indebtedness within a rank-based social norms framework. Study 1 found that students hold highly variable beliefs about how much other students will owe at the end of their degree. Students' concern about their own anticipated debt – and their intention of taking on a part-time job during term time – was best predicted not by the size of the anticipated debt, but by how they, often incorrectly, believed their debt ranked amongst that of others. Study 2 manipulated hypothetical debt amounts experimentally and found that the same anticipated debt was rated as 2.5 times more concerning when it ranked as the second highest being considered than when it was the fifth highest. Study 3 demonstrated that the model applies to evaluation of different types of debt (income contingent loans versus general debt).

Keywordsstudent's indebtedness; context effects; attitudes towards debt; range frequency theory; decision by sampling; social norms
Year2015
JournalStudies in Higher Education
Journal citation40 (7), pp. 1307-1327
PublisherTaylor & Francis
ISSN1470-174X
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2014.881349
Web address (URL)https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2014.881349
Publication dates
Print28 Mar 2014
Publication process dates
Accepted29 Dec 2013
Deposited21 Nov 2023
Accepted author manuscript
License
File Access Level
Open
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