The influence of implicit self-theories on consumer financial decision making

This research investigates the influence of implicit self-theories of personality on consumers' financial decisions. We show that consumers who believe that personality traits are malleable (i.e., incremental theorists) prefer riskier investments because they are promotion-focused. However, consumers who believe that personality traits are fixed (i.e., entity theorists) prefer risk-averse investments because they are prevention-focused. Furthermore, we demonstrate the mediating role of a regulatory focus by both measuring and manipulating this construct. The theoretical and managerial implications of our research are discussed.