Prof Yolanda Jordaan attended the Business & Economics Society International conference held in Galway, Ireland, from 13 to 17 July 2025 to present a conference paper. The conference paper was co-authored by PhD graduate Dr Laureane du Plessis, and co-supervisor Prof Liezl-Marie van der Westhuizen. Their conference paper was titled ‘Do aspirational goals impact the relationship between psychological need satisfaction and consumer spending self-control?’.

The paper investigated the role of aspirational goals in consumer spending due to the fact that many individuals find it challenging to manage their expenses. However, when individuals’ psychological needs are met, they become more self-directed, which could positively influence their spending habits. Intrinsic aspirational goals focus on cultivating one’s interests and thus promote psychological need fulfilment, potentially enhancing overall well-being, including improved consumer spending self-control. In contrast, extrinsic aspirational goals are based on external indicators of worth, driven by the approval from others, and may hinder psychological need satisfaction, potentially resulting in reduced consumer spending self-control.

The conference paper investigated how the trade-off of aspirational goals moderates the relationship between psychological need satisfaction and consumer spending self-control. An online survey was distributed to employed, credit-active adult South Africans, resulting in 608 usable responses. The analytic hierarchy process determined individual criteria weight for each aspirational goal, while structural equation modelling tested the proposed model. Results indicated a significant relationship between psychological need satisfaction and consumer spending self-control. Neither intrinsic nor extrinsic aspirational goals moderated this relationship. These findings suggest marketers should prioritise enhancing psychological need satisfaction rather than leveraging aspirational goals to influence consumer spending behaviours. For instance, instead of presenting products as fulfilling long-term life goals, marketers should focus on satisfying immediate psychological needs within the consumer experience.

Below is a picture of Prof Jordaan in action at the conference.