Money matters
New UC study looks at how perception of household income affects a working couple’s fulfillment
The old saying goes: Money can’t buy happiness. But it sure can make or break a relationship.
That’s according to new research spearheaded by University of Cincinnati doctoral candidate Sharmeen Merchant that took an in-depth look at the psychological role money plays in households with two sources of income. Her team’s study was recently published in the Journal of Business and Psychology.
Merchant's research focuses on the psychology behind workplace relations.
“This is about the values of money and how we approach money in our partnerships. It’s not just about the objective dollar amount you earn,” Merchant said. “Do we think it’s a source of achievement? Do we see it as materialistic?”
Scott Dust, PhD, professor in the management department at UC’s Carl H. Lindner College of Business and Merchant’s adviser, also worked on the study, “Gender Differences on Dual-Earners’ Money as Achievement Congruence and Needs-Supplies Fit.”
The results? Men’s sense of fulfillment at work is embedded with their partners’ views on money.
“This study was the first to acknowledge that money is not made in isolation. Money is made within a household,” Dust explained. “We found that you can’t really look at money and its impact on work unless you consider if employees are partnered. You have to consider the whole household.”
Merchant and Dust worked closely with fellow Lindner doctoral candidate Sodiq Babatunde, Lindner assistant professor Laurens Steed and Joseph Rode from Miami University, to analyze nearly 200 working couples and their views on money.
By focusing on achievement-related money attitudes, the study highlights how men in particular integrate their partners’ perspectives into how they evaluate their own professional success. For wives and girlfriends, this trend was significantly less pronounced.
So if a married couple is aligned on what money means to them, the husband tends to feel more fulfilled with his job. If a couple has totally different perceptions of money, that workplace fulfillment dissipates.
For men, there’s added pressure of maintaining this breadwinner identity.
Sharmeen Merchant
Interestingly, Merchant noted, men’s fulfillment was lowest when couples were only moderately misaligned on financial values, not when they had completely opposite views. “That uncertainty on your partner’s values creates this kind of ‘messy middle,’ where indifference makes it harder for couples to feel confident,” she said.
Babatunde specializes in relational and cultural dynamics in the workplace.
Babatunde likened the methodology to the cultural expectations on marriage in his home country of Nigeria. Parents conduct what he described as essentially “background checks” on their children’s partners once marriage is on the horizon.
“They look into a potential partner’s family — how they see success, how they perceive money and how they navigate the world,” Babatunde said. “This study helped me better understand why older generations look at relationships that way.”
“That’s the practical takeaway: Choose your spouses wisely,” Dust said. “Your choice of work will certainly impact how satisfied you are at your job. But your choice of partner and what your partner’s values are can also influence how you feel about your income.”
Mid-century expectations, modern pressures
So why was this result practically nonexistent for women? The data showed that their partners’ opinions on money did not have an impact on how fulfilled women felt at work. The research team found that this could be due to lasting cultural expectations in a changing society.
The stereotypical breadwinning husband and caretaking wife may not be as common as it was decades ago, but those expectations are baked into peoples’ perceptions of work to this day — especially the men.
“For men, there’s also this added pressure of maintaining this breadwinner identity in a changing society. This identity is still really important to them, and they’re trying to grapple with that in this evolving society,” Merchant said.
Merchant explained that the contemporary workforce is largely composed of people whose partners also earn a living.
“But this identity men have to be breadwinners is still prevalent. It’s sticky,” Merchant said. “Because of that, we found that alignment with their partners on finances will affect men’s fulfillment at their jobs.”
From classroom to cutting-edge research
The idea for Merchant and Babatunde’s joint research venture came from a doctoral seminar they took together called Dynamic Relations, which looked at the complications of researching the relationships between people in the workplace.
“We came into the PhD program as naive students just wanting to jump into data analysis,” Babatunde said. “Our professors encouraged us to find new ways to look at data, to find those interesting, under-researched stories.”
Dust also serves as associate dean and Kirk and Jacki Perry Professor in Leadership.
“Merchant and Babatunde are great examples of what Lindner College of Business aims for in terms of high-quality research that makes a difference for the world,” professor Dust said. “It is well-done and well-executed methodologically, but it is research questions that are interesting and impactful for society at large.”
To read the full text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the authors.
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Featured image at top of two paper chain people nestled in a stack of cash. Photo/iStock/devonyu
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