Beyond Traditional Metrics: Developing and Validating a Multidimensional Scale for Consumer Financial Well‐Being

ABSTRACT This paper proposes a scale for measuring consumer financial well‐being (CFW), covering its dimensions and consequences. The holistic nature of the scale is a significant improvement on the existing measures of CFW, which cover only a few dimensions, such as debt and financial distress, without focusing on the consequences of CFW. The paper follows a rigorous process spanning five studies: Study 1, qualitative research aiming to generate and reduce items for the new scale; Studies 2 and 3, empirical analyses of data from India and the United Kingdom, respectively; Study 4, establishing the scale's nomological validity by testing its theoretical connections with mindful consumption and life satisfaction as outcomes; and Study 5, an experiment aiming to reinforce the scale's nomological validity by testing the effect of prevention focus (vs. promotion focus) as an antecedent for CFW. Utilizing the frameworks of dual‐process and multiple discrepancies theories, the scale proposed by this paper consists of a four‐factor solution (financial security, financial preparedness and satisfaction, financial resilience, and financial wisdom). On one hand, the study provides vital implications for marketing managers who want to encourage sustainable and responsible consumption patterns. Second, it informs marketing managers who want to design marketing or educational interventions that aim to improve CFW by developing financial wisdom. Third, our scale can assist financial planners with measuring and improving their clients' financial well‐being and provides them with unconventional tools (e.g., financial wisdom) for doing so.