Page 272 - Contributed Paper Session (CPS) - Volume 6

CPS1925 Marek K.
considering the definition of the economic resourcefulness – that not only
saving, but also reasonable borrowing and the use of instruments such as
credit cards can be a factor that has a positive impact on the financial standing.
This is in line with the economic perception of borrowing (especially with
regard to the Permanent Income Hypothesis), where borrowing is a natural
activity stabilizing the level of consumption and allowing for interim financial
transfers (acceleration of consumption). An undoubted problem, however, is
excessive consumption, which is not justified in the level of income achieved
(both temporary and permanent). In this situation, the indebtedness is not
planned (built into the concept of the life cycle), but it is an ad hoc attempt to
secure consumption needs as a result of current financial problems (the
separation of these two aspects is indicated by the results of factor analysis).
This type of behavior negatively affects the long-term building of wealth and
the economic stability of the household, which is reflected in the negative
impact of economic resourcefulness.

4. Discussion and Conclusion
The definition of the concept of economic resourcefulness indicates the
possibility of identifying a certain set of features that are key to the “efficiency”
of functioning on the market. Among them are not only aspects directly
related to the economic dimension - no less important are personality traits,
values in life and factors affecting self-confidence, feeling of “not being
inferior”. This category of economic resourcefulness proved to be helpful in
explaining behaviour in the area of saving and borrowing. It is a step towards
the identification of sets of significant features – instead of assessing the
impact of respondents' characteristics separately, the impact of the compound
category is assessed, which comprehensively describes the ability to cope with
problems and challenges in the economic space.
The obtained results show a coherent picture of the behaviours of
resourceful people. The resourceful people have a higher propensity to save,
including short-term saving, oriented on the purchase of specific goods or
services, which directly relates to a financial discipline. These people do not
avoid borrowing – even in situations when it involves a significant burden on
the household budget (which is very often the case in the case of mortgage
loans). However, they are characterized by a lower tendency to indebtedness
caused by financial problems which would indicate a limited ability to
effectively manage household finances. An interesting exception – the area on
which economic resourcefulness (defined in the manner adopted in this
article) has no significant impact is the conscious planning of retirement
savings. On one hand, it shows the specificity of such saving, which is crucial
for building incentive systems aimed at promoting this type of saving. On the
other hand, it shows that building pension security does not necessarily have

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