Examining gender differences in predictors of financial satisfaction: Evidence from Taiwan

• Published date: 01 December 2021
• Author: Derek T. Tharp,Elizabeth J. Parks‐Stamm
• Date: 01 December 2021
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12415

SPECIAL ISSUE

Examining gender differences in predictors

of financial satisfaction: Evidence from Taiwan

Derek T. Tharp

1

|Elizabeth J. Parks-Stamm

2

1

Department of Accounting and Finance,

University of Southern Maine, Portland,

Maine, USA

2

Department of Psychology, University of

Southern Maine, Portland, Maine, USA

Correspondence

Derek T. Tharp, Finance and

Administration, University of Southern

Maine, Portland, ME, USA.

Email: derek.tharp@maine.edu

Abstract

Guided by an integrative model of top–down and

bottom–up influences on financial satisfaction, this

study examines gender differences in the predictors of

financial satisfaction in Taiwan. Using the 2016 wave

of the panel study of family dynamics (PSFD), gender

differences in the extent to which top–down (trait posi-

tive and negative affect) and bottom–up (demographic,

financial, and social support) factors predicted financial

satisfaction were explored within three Taiwanese

social contexts: all adults (n=3593), working adults

(n=2713), and married working adults (n=1306).

Gender differences were observed in all three social

contexts. In particular, income (more strongly associ-

ated among men than women), education (more

strongly associated among women than men), and trait

negative affect (more strongly associated among

women than men) tended to predict financial satisfac-

tion differently by gender. Trait positive affect predicted

financial satisfaction regardless of gender. The present

analysis suggests traditional gender roles continue to

influence financial satisfaction assessment in Taiwan.

KEYWORDS

financial satisfaction, gender differences, Taiwan

Received: 1 November 2019Revised: 11 September 2021Accepted: 21 September 2021

DOI: 10.1111/joca.12415

© 2021 American Council on Consumer Interests.

J Consum Aff. 2021;55:1505–1539.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/joca 1505

1|INTRODUCTION

Financial satisfaction has garnered extensive attention in the past decades, as financial satisfac-

tion is an important predictor of satisfaction with life (Diener & Oishi, 2000). Around the world,

financial satisfaction is one of the strongest predictors of subjective well-being (Ng &

Diener, 2014), predicting as much variance in SWB as occupational, physical health, and rela-

tionship satisfaction combined (Netemeyer et al., 2018). This is particularly the case in countries

undergoing economic transition, such as Taiwan, where life satisfaction is argued to be more

strongly dependent on financial satisfaction (i.e., a “monetization of happiness”; Brockmann

et al., 2009). Although various factors are consistently found to be associated with financial sat-

isfaction, no studies, to our knowledge, have examined how the factors that determine financial

satisfaction differ by gender in the Asian context. Furthermore, to our knowledge, no studies

have examined how personality traits such as trait affect (i.e., a relatively stable disposition

towards positive or negative emotion; Watson & Walker, 1996) influence financial satisfaction

in an Asian context, although findings from the US have found that trait affect is one of the

strongest predictors of financial satisfaction (Tharp, 2017; Tharp, Seay, Carswell, &

MacDonald, 2020).

Much of the research on the determinants of financial satisfaction has been conducted in

the United States (see Joo & Grable, 2004; Tharp, Seay, Carswell, & MacDonald, 2020;

Woodyard & Robb, 2016; Xiao & O'Neill, 2018). However, given the influence of Confucianism

and the greater division of gender roles in Taiwan than in the United States (Wu, 2006), the role

of gender in the determinants of financial satisfaction in Taiwan may be different than in the

United States. The traditional gender values in Taiwan make this an ideal population for study-

ing gender differences in financial satisfaction in Asia. As in other Confucian societies with tra-

ditional gender roles, Taiwanese men are expected to be the breadwinner of the family

(Chen, 2019; Liu, 2017) and Taiwanese women continue to prefer husbands with greater eco-

nomic resources (Cheng, 2014). Despite gains in Taiwanese women's workforce participation

over recent decades (from 38% employment in 1978 to 51% in 2015; Yu, 2015), a high proportion

of women in Taiwan leave their jobs following marriage or childbirth (Chang, 2006). For exam-

ple, in a nationally representative survey of married women in Taiwan, Yu (2005) found 42%

exited the workforce around the time of their marriage. This leaves women disproportionately

dependent on their husbands and extended family members for their financial security, and

indicates that financial satisfaction in Taiwan may be associated with different factors among

women than among men in this cultural context. Basic knowledge of the predictors of financial

satisfaction by gender is needed to know how to address women's financial well-being in

Taiwan.

In line with recent approaches examining the individual within a situation within a culture

(e.g., CuPS; Leung & Cohen, 2011), we use an integrative model of top–down (dispositional)

and bottom–up (situational) influences on financial satisfaction (Heller et al., 2004) to examine

how top–down (i.e., trait positive and negative affect) and bottom–up factors (i.e., demographic,

financial, and social support) may be differently associated with financial satisfaction among

men and women within different social contexts (e.g., working or not working, married or not

married) in Taiwan. The present study makes several new contributions to the literature. First,

we find that predictors of financial satisfaction, and particularly economic predictors conceptu-

ally related to the traditional breadwinner/caregiver gender roles (e.g., one's own personal

income), do vary between men and women in a Taiwanese context. Second, we find that these

gender differences vary among predictors within different social contexts. For instance, whereas

1506 THARP AND PARKS-STAMM

income is predictive of financial satisfaction for both men and women within a broad sample of

Taiwanese respondents, income is only predictive of financial satisfaction for men (but not

women) when analyses are limited to individuals who are working or both married and work-

ing in Taiwan. Lastly, we find support for the use of an integrative model of bottom–up and

top–down influences on individuals' financial satisfaction within a Taiwanese context. Consis-

tent with research from the United States, we find that trait positive affect and trait negative

affect are important predictors of financial satisfaction that have been largely overlooked in the

Asian literature.

2|BACKGROUND

2.1 |Theoretical basis for gender differences in financial satisfaction

assessment

Rather than focusing on main effects of gender on financial satisfaction as others have done

(e.g., Hira & Mugenda, 2000), we are interested in gender differences in the determinants of

gender satisfaction (i.e., whether certain predictors are more important for males' versus

females' financial satisfaction). We organize the relevant predictors for financial satisfaction

based on the distinction between bottom–up (i.e., situational) and top–down (i.e., dispositional)

factors used in prior research on life satisfaction (Heller et al., 2004). In predicting life satisfac-

tion, both bottom–up perspectives, which posit that an individual's life circumstances influence

satisfaction assessment (i.e., objective life conditions lead to satisfaction), and top–down per-

spectives, which posit that personality traits provide enduring affective dispositions toward sat-

isfaction or dissatisfaction, have been supported empirically (Brief et al., 1993). However,

integrative models that include both bottom–up and top–down influences perform best of all in

predicting life satisfaction (Heller et al., 2004), and thus we apply this approach to financialsat-

isfaction in the present paper. Furthermore, various bottom–up and top–down influences on

satisfaction assessment have been found to be moderated by gender. Therefore, we employ an

integrative model of bottom–up and top–down influences moderated by gender (Figure 1).

The impact of gender on top–down and bottom–up influences may further be moderated by

social context, which in our model is defined by individuals' social role within the family

(e.g., single, earning money outside the home, or married and working outside the home). Due

to the influence of Confucianism, there is a much larger distinction between male gender roles

and female gender roles in Taiwan than in the United States (Wu, 2006). Confuciansim, which

emphasizes the importance of order and hierarchy to achieve harmony in human relationships

(with men having more status than women; Xu & Lai, 2004), is argued to influence values

related to breadwinner and homemaker gender roles. Men in Taiwan are expected to be the

breadwinner (Chen, 2019) and women are expected to be the main caretaker of children and

the home (Chang, 2006). Confucian family values remain stronger in Taiwan than in other

Chinese societies like Hong Kong (which has been influenced by its connection with Britain) or

mainland China (that has been influenced by political pressure towards gender equality), and

this is an ideal context for studying the influence of these traditional gender values and gender

roles (Xu & Lai, 2004). The distinct gender roles in Taiwanese culture may lead to differences

between men and women with respect to relationships between financial characteristics

(e.g., income, household breadwinner status) and financial satisfaction. For instance, in line

with these values, being the breadwinner of one's household may be positively associated with

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