The Company You Keep Impacts Your Spending Patterns as a Consumer

Friends are more likely to feel a strong sense of affiliation when enjoying small indulgences together or helping one another resist larger temptation, according to new research out of Vanderbilt University and Texas A&M. In fact, Kelly Haws, associate professor at Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, says that consumers who shop or dine with their friends are more likely to happily spend or indulge a little more, but feel a strong affiliation when a friend reaffirms their decision not to overindulge. Haws reveals how consumers should use this knowledge to help themselves control their financial decisions.