11-22-04
Penn State Behrend Establishes Credit Card Research Center
The Black School of Business at Penn State Behrend has established a Credit Card Research Center that will promote research and outreach in an area that has become increasingly relevant to Americans of all ages. The center is built on more than eight years of research by business faculty, and it has the potential to involve many more faculty and students in the study of American's credit card habits.
"Credit cards are a way of life for many Americans," said Mary Beth Pinto, Ph.D., associate professor of marketing and director of the Credit Card Research Center. "We are very interested in the credit card socialization process-how people develop their credit attitudes and behaviors. Our hope is to learn more about how people use-and abuse-credit and how we can educate people to use credit wisely. The center's primary activities will be research, education, and outreach to a variety of audiences from children to senior citizens."
Pinto and two colleagues, Phylis Mansfield, Ph.D., assistant professor of marketing, and Diane Parente, Ph.D., associate professor of management, have been conducting research on college students and their credit card habits since 1998. Their studies have resulted in eight journal articles and numerous presentations at national conferences.
The new Credit Card Research Center accepts inquiries about credit card use at its Credit Card Hotline, 814-898-6553. The center's Web site at www.creditcardresearchprogram.info educates students about wise credit management.
With the help of a graduate assistant, Joanna Kreider, Pinto, Mansfield, and Parente developed a hands-on Credit Card Game Show that brings the Web site to life and makes it fun for students to learn all they can about this critical subject.
Until now, the Center's research samples have varied from 112 to over 1,000, but last spring Pinto, Mansfield, and Parente uncovered a way to greatly expand their database. Working with the Pennsylvania College Personnel Association, they enlisted forty-six colleges and universities across the state to involve their students in completing surveys via the Web assessing their credit knowledge and activity.
"We expect to increase the generalizability of our research as we expand our sample to a broader range of students," said Pinto.
The Credit Card Research Center offers students promotional business cards that include the center's Web address and hotline number, in case they have emergency credit questions. Students can also log onto the Web site and take a quiz to assess their personal knowledge about credit.
Pinto and her colleagues recently presented their research to Financial Aid Administrators throughout the Penn State system and to the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences at their 2004 national conference in San Diego, California. In September, they presented their findings at the 2004 Pennsylvania Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators in State College, Pennsylvania.
One member of the research team traveled to England and India over the summer and collected international data, adding another dimension to the credit card research program. "We plan to compare the credit usage habits and credit attitudes of undergraduate students in the U.S. with both England and India," said Pinto.
In addition to teaching college students about credit card use, the researchers are looking to survey seniors-those over 65 years of age-and the disabled, who are often taken in by credit card come-ons that they don't understand.
"Penn State Behrend's Credit Card Research Center is a lot like a movie star who seems to be an overnight success," said Pinto. "We've been working on this program for a long time, and it's finally reached the stage where we can apply what we've learned for the benefit of our students and others."
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Contact: Loretta Brandon, 814-898-6063, lzb6@psu.edu