Investigating individual intention to make money: can motivation of wealth be a socio-economic leverage?

Abstract

Wealth is an indicator of individual well-being. Increasing wealth is a pathway to achieving socio-economic development. Thus, it is imperative to shed light on factors that induce individual intention to increase wealth. This study investigates the effects of perception of wealth, perception of the rich, and behavioral control on personal intention to make money. A stratified sampling method was employed to obtain a sample of 991 respondents from Northern, Central, and Southern Vietnam who were invited to participate in a structured questionnaire survey in 2021. We utilized the Confirmatory Factor Analysis to validate the proposed model and tested the hypotheses using the Partial Least Squared-SEM. Empirical results highlight that individual behavioral control, explicit perception of the rich, and perception of wealth are essential determinants of individual intention to make money. Interestingly, motivation of wealth positively moderates the relationship between the perception of wealth and personal intention to make money. In addition, post-Covid-19 opportunities positively moderate two-pair relationships: perception of wealth-individual intention to make money and explicit perception of the rich—individual intention to make money. Insights from this study imply appropriate policies for the government to enhance the inspiration of people to work harder, leading to sustainable development.

Introduction

Even though the quality of life is not only determined by the level of wealth, it plays a crucial role in all aspects of our lives (Liu, 2008; Luburić & Fabris, 2017; OECD, 2011). For a nation, wealth determines social welfare (OECD, 2011). Wealth allows individuals to choose as they wish and protect themselves against risks and unexpected shocks. In addition, national wealth ensures investment in education, health, and security (OECD, 2011). Consequently, exploring the richness and people's aspiration to get rich is of great vitality in providing empirical evidence to policymakers to shape righteous money-making behaviors of residents.

Wealth is defined as a level of financial resources (Tully & Sharma, 2022). In the past, Tang developed the measurement scale of "love of money" which indicates the importance and value of wealth to each person (Tang, 1992, 2006, 2020). This scale is widely used in the topic of "perception of wealth", giving an overview to the general public about wealth and its role in one's life. However, although some constructed items indicate wealth, these are mixed up into two types: attitudes towards other rich people, such as "money are good"; and perception of what wealth can bring us, such as "money helps me gain respect". Both of these views are perceptions, but they may be different. They have close relationships, but they can affect the intention of making money differently. Thus, this research aims to classify and explore them more in-depth. Doing so would contribute to the theories about "the rich" and "wealth". It also helps to develop a new small topic of which factors can influence the intention of getting money.

The average standard of living in developing countries is lower than in developed countries, and the human development index (HDI) and income are not high (Yurdakul et al., 2022). Although rational and functional efforts have been promoted to achieve sustainable development in poverty reduction and income inequality, in most developing countries, poverty rates and income inequality remain high (Khan et al., 2022). However, it seems challenging to recommend solutions to reduce poverty and income inequality in developing countries (Anderson, 2022). One of the feasible solutions to design policies to promote economic growth is to increase wealth based on individual efforts toward making money.

Previous scholars have discussed several determinants influencing individual behaviors toward getting rich (Carroll, 2000; Dynan et al., 2004; Zhou & Mondragón, 2004). For example, Dynan et al. (2004) proposed saving as an essential factor in examining individual behavior and perspective on making money. Meanwhile, Sonin (2003) suggested property rights, and Goleman (2013) addressed social issues related to the rich and the income gap. Unfortunately, the research on the role of motivation of wealth is still scant, especially in developing countries.

Moreover, previous studies are based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and confirm that perception or so-called attitude, social norms, and individual behavioral control are factors that induce the intention of behaviors (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). This theory mainly concentrates on explicit perception and attitude because they see that the effect of implicit perception on the intention of behavior is too vague (Ajzen & Fishbein, 2005). Implicit perceptions are crucial when discussing delicate subjects like money (Manns-James, 2015). It is also resistant to new information since it is often formed via repeated exposure to either positive or negative information on a topic through social interactions and personal experience (Horwitz & Dovidio, 2015; Smith & DeCoster, 2000). Drawing from the TPB, this study also proposed two factors influencing the intention to make money, namely explicit and implicit perceptions.

This study addresses these lacks by developing a framework that investigated the impact of perception of wealth, perception of the rich, motivation of wealth, and individual behavioral control, on intention to make money. We tested the proposed model in the context of Vietnam, where the change in people's perception of the rich could fuel economic growth and reduce social inequality. Given the golden population structure of Vietnam with a large number of young working people, understanding the determinants of people's perception of the rich and how this perception shapes their efforts to work, earn, and become rich is essential for the government and policymakers (Tri & Hoa, 2022). The purpose of this study is to find factors that induce individual intention to increase wealth, because making money to get rich is one of conditions for people to enjoy happiness. Encouraging wealth legally will lead to poverty deduction in emerging economies and is a driving force for economic development. By proposing a behavioral model of wealth, this study offers several contributions to socio-economic development and will have practical implications for governments and policymakers in developing nations.

The remainder of the paper consists of five sections. Section "Literature review" presents the literature review and hypothesis development. The methodology is presented in Section "Methodology". Section "Results" shows the empirical results, followed by discussions in Section "Discussion". Section "Conclusion and limitations" concludes the paper.

Literature review

Intention to make money

In the literature review, Oliver and Swan (1989) defined intention as individual expected or intended toward future activities. Similarly, Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) also considered intention as the expectation toward behavior. However, immaterial intention to pay is individual willingness to pay at all (Liebe et al., 2011). In this study, the intention to make money is individually intended or expected toward making money in the future.

This study utilizes the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as a theoretical framework. The Theory of Planned Behavior believes there are three catalysts resulting in behavior: attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975; Hoang et al., 2021; Nguyen et al., 2021). The attitude include certain emotions, beliefs, and evaluations regarding specific issues, events, or subjects. Attitudes may form through experience or social norms (Cherry, 2019) and demographic factors (Karakaya & Avgın, 2016; Shriyan, 2009; Doan et al., 2022; Lee et al., 2019; Vu & Nguyen, 2022). Through the measurement of the perception of wealth and the rich, we hope to explore the perceived likelihood of performing the act of earning money (Daniel E. Montano & Kasprzyk, 2015).

According to Furnham (2012), money can motivate people to work harder, be willing to take risks or broaden their networks. One of the most important meanings of work is to get rich, to self-actualization and assist other (Fave et al., 2013; Chi, 2022). This study explores such intentions through statement attitudes toward the attempt to make money, such as "When I try to get rich, I get excited" and behavior to make money, such as "I'm always looking for opportunities to get rich."

Concepts of wealth perception, perception of the rich, and motivation of wealth

Wealth perception

Tully and Sharma (2022, p.125) define wealth as the actual individual level of financial resources as well as subjective assessments of individual level of financial resources. They classify wealth into two components, namely objective wealth and subjective wealth. Objective wealth aims to obtain individuals' actual financial status, i.e., income, assets, and level of debt. Subjective wealth can be measured by luxury spending, pricey hobbies, impulsive spending and other behaviors, which indicate the richness (Rinn et al., 2022) or a self-reports of objective wealth.

Wealth is perceived differently among people (Hamilton & Hepburn, 2017). Perception of wealth is defined as the attitudes people hold toward money (Gasiorowska, 2014). Feagin (1972) argues that wealth perception has three dimensions: individualistic, fatalistic, and structuralistic. Based on these previous studies, the perception of wealth in this study is defined as awareness of individuals toward money.

Perception of the rich

Another concept close to wealth perception is the perception of the rich, which is the attitude of individuals toward rich people. This attitude can be explicit or implicit (Horwitz & Dovidio, 2015; Wu et al., 2018). Wu et al. (2018) take the frequency of pairing the rich with competence and warmth as the explicit attitude and the speed to make these pairings as the implicit admiration attitude. The explicit attitude is formed and changed when conditions to access and learn new information change (Horwitz & Dovidio, 2015; Smith & DeCoster, 2000). In contrast, implicit attitude is unconscious awareness (Wilson & Lindsey, 2000), which is formed by repeated exposure to positive or negative information about a subject, through social interactions and personal experience. Implicit attitudes can resist changes in response to new information (Horwitz & Dovidio, 2015; Smith & DeCoster, 2000).

Motivation of wealth

The literature on consumer behavior shows that motivation is a force that prompts actions (Schiffman & Kanuk, 1978). Meanwhile, Eysenck et al. (1985) suggest that motivation is related to "conscious or unconscious decision involving how, when, and why to allocate effort to a task or activity". Furthermore, Colquitt et al. (2000) argue that motivation is key determinant explaining an individual behavior. It is the process of the brain providing energy and behavior to individuals. To explain diverse motivations, a push–pull model was proposed (Crompton, 1979). While push factors reflect the psychological drivers of behavior (Wu & Pearce, 2014), pull factors are external, situational or cognitive motivations (Devesa et al., 2010). In this respect, the motivation of wealth in this study is a pull factor that includes external motivations from social networks and government supports/incentives for individuals' efforts to make money.

The effect of perception of the rich

The perception of the rich can be reflected in how people think about wealth (Kreidl, 2000). If a person admires the rich and gives the rich respect, s/he is likely to believe they will get the same respect and admiration from others when they become rich. To analyze the explicit perception of the rich, Tang and Chen (2008) propose a measurement scale of attitude towards money, namely the love of money scale (LOMS). LOMS is measured by many items, including "Money is good/important/valuable/symbol of success", which is the perception of wealth. In this study, the explicit perception of the rich is represented by a latent variable of respect. Respondents are asked about their respect for someone who has a lot of money. Explicit perception of the rich and perception of wealth is found to be significantly correlated to each other (Tang, 2016; Tang et al., 2005, 2018). Therefore, in this study, we propose the following hypothesis:

• H1a: Explicit perception of the rich has a positive influence on the perception of wealth

When explicit perceptions are measured by self-reports and may be influenced by social desirability bias (Hofmann et al., 2005), implicit perceptions exist beneath conscious awareness. They are generally unaffected by motivational biases (Hofmann et al., 2005). Implicit perceptions are typically created via repeated exposure to either positive or negative information on a topic through social interactions and personal experience. They can be challenging to alter in response to new knowledge (Horwitz & Dovidio, 2015; Smith & DeCoster, 2000). Measuring implicit perceptions is helpful when studying socially sensitive topics (Manns-James, 2015), such as the rich and making money. Previous studies show the dissociation between the explicit and implicit perceptions of the rich (Horwitz & Dovidio, 2015; Hu et al., 2017). In China, there exists a negative association between the implicit and explicit perceptions of the rich (Zhang et al., 2018). Therefore, the following hypothesis is advanced:

• H2a: Implicit perception of the rich has a negative influence on the perception of wealth

Previous studies have demonstrated the impact of individual awareness on behavioral control (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975; Sajid et al., 2022). For example, Han (2015) demonstrates the prominent role of awareness of consequences on behavioral control and tourist intention. Khazaeian et al. (2022) suggest a positive association between cognition and individual behavioral control of Covid-19 in pregnancy through their cross-sectional study. Meanwhile, Javid et al. (2022) show an influence of awareness of traffic on behavioral control toward drivers speeding behavior in Lahore based on the TPB theory of Fishbein and Ajzen (1975). A positive relationship between individual awareness of environmental consequences and behavioral control and intention is found in a study on sustainable development by Sajid et al. (2022). Among Chinese university students, an explicit perception such as gratitude might boost self-esteem (Kong et al., 2015). Based on the review of the literature, the following hypotheses as proposed:

• H1b: Explicit perception of the rich has a positive influence on individual behavioral control

• H2b: Implicit perception of the rich has a negative influence on individual behavioral control

Perception affects not only behavioral control but also the intention of behaviors. A number of theories, including the theory of reasoned action (TRA) (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991) are proposed to analyze the effects of attitude/perception on the intention of behaviors. The TPB states that any decision a person makes is influenced by various beliefs, including control beliefs, normative beliefs, and behavioral beliefs. Behavioral beliefs are ideas about the likely outcomes of a practiced behavior (Arafat & Mohamed Ibrahim, 2018). The more favorable attitude towards a possible outcome, the stronger the person's intention to execute the desired behavior (Arafat & Mohamed Ibrahim, 2018). In this study, individual behavior is to make money and to become rich. We expect that the perception of the rich influences the intention to make money. Therefore, the following hypothesis is postulated:

• H1c: Explicit perception of the rich has a positive influence on intention to make money

Unlike the explicit perception, the effect of implicit perception on intention is not yet made clear in the literature. Icek Ajzen and Fishbein (2018) argue that this relationship is weak. This weak relationship might be due to the fact that the previous studies only focus on a broad scope of implicit perception, while the intention of behaviors is often specific, such as buying or taking a specific kind of medicine. In addition, implicit perception might directly affect behaviors without affecting the intention of behaviors. In our study, there is conformity in perception and implicit attitude. Both constructs are not specific. Hence, we expect an influence of implicit perception of the rich on the intention to make money. Since the effects of explicit and implicit perception are opposite (Fan & Dengfeng, 2007), we propose the following hypothesis:

• H2c: Implicit perception of the rich has a negative influence on intention to make money

The effect of perception of wealth

Previous studies have explored the relationship between the perception of wealth and behavior intention. It is found that individuals who highly evaluate money may have low intentions to help others and perform ethical behaviors (Tang & Liu, 2012). Tang and Liu (2012) use data from 266 part-time employees to investigate the relationship between people's perception of money stewardship on unethical behavioral intentions. It is reported that people with a high score for LOMS money under inadequate supervision are more likely to have unethical intentions. Nonetheless, Tang (2010) argues that money can bring people a sense of self-sufficiency. Tan and Waheed (2011) confirm that high love of money may mitigate the negative impact of job control on the quit intention. As a result, the following testable hypothesis is advanced:

• H3: Perception of wealth has a positive influence on intention to make money

The effect of individual behavioral control

Behavioral control refers to an individual's belief in their ability. Combined with motivation, it affects the likelihood of behavioral achievement (Ajzen, 1991). There is a large literature body concerning behavioral control, including locus of control (Rotter, 1966), competence (White, 1959), self-efficacy (Bandura, 1977), and perceived behavioral control (Ajzen, 1988). Rotter (1966) argues that control over the outcome could be either internal, resulting from one's traits or actions, or external, conditional on others' behaviors, fate, luck, opportunities, and circumstances. People with high internal control are found to have favorable characteristics such as better attention and alertness, which helps to improve task accomplishment throughout life. They can also enjoy better performance than those with a high external locus of control (Sanders et al., 1973).

The construct of perceived behavioral control, which refers to different types of personal perception and beliefs, was introduced by Ajzen (1988) as an addition to the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). This theory suggests a conceptual framework to evaluate the impact of perceived behavioral control on intention behaviors. Perceived behavioral control and attitudes towards subjective norms are found to predict behavioral intention and actual behavior (Dalila et al., 2020). The effects on actual decisions in various aspects of an economy, from health to education, consumption, transportation, and technology application, are investigated in the literature (Chi, 2021). Nonetheless, a few studies have explored individual control's impact on behavioral intention. For example, Chatterjee et al. (2011) explore the effect of self-efficacy on household financial behaviors in the USA and find that personal confidence in the success of the behavior increases household wealth accumulation and encourages financial market participation. Farrell et al. (2016) based on a survey of Australian female participants, assert that self-assuredness in one's capacity in financial management strongly affects the choice of investment and savings products. Tang (2016) also highlights that individual capacity and self-efficacy promote economic management efficiency among elders in the USA. Still, little is known about the links between individual behavioral control and perception of wealth as well as intention to make money, especially in the context of an emerging economy like Vietnam. It is plausible to assume that individual behavioral control affects the perception of wealth and people's intention to make money. Therefore, the following hypotheses are advanced:

• H4: Individual behavioral control has a positive influence on the perception of wealth

• H5: Individual behavioral control has a positive influence on the intention to make money

The moderating role of motivation of wealth

In behavioral theory, previous studies have demonstrated the role of motivation as a moderator in improving the links between a number of factors and individual intention in various fields. Batra and Ray (1986) suggest the moderating influence of motivation on the connection between advertising repetition and customers' purchase intention in their research of brand attitudes. Fernet et al. (2010) propose the moderating role of work motivation in controlling colleagues' relationships and emotional exhaustion in the working environment. Oh et al. (2022) reveal the moderating effects of intrinsic and prosocial motivation in inducing corporate social responsibility perceptions and working engagement. Other scholars also confirm that motivation is a mediator in transforming critical factors into individual intention. For example, Chi (2021) suggests the mediating effect of travel motivation in changing eco-brand into customers' green consumption in ecotourism destinations. In education research, Leo et al. (2022) address the impact of self-determined motivation in mediating teachers' behavior and students' engagement. From these perspectives, motivation is vital in enhancing individual behavioral intentions.

When it comes to the perception of the rich and wealth, the study of motivation's role in personal intention to make more money is scant, especially in emerging economies. Nwankwo et al. (2014) are among a few to address the association between motivation, perception of wealth, and intention to purchase luxury goods. Motivation to buy luxury goods has pushed individual wealth expectations into their future earnings. Riznika and Stefanus Kaihatu (2021) examine the millennial intention to make money in family businesses. It is found that motivation of stewardship, social-emotional wealth, and intention to make money have significant correlations.

Moreover, the motivation of trusting themselves has pushed individuals to have more efforts to make more profit for their family businesses. Growth motivation is also a key driver of wealth, employment, and economic development (Neneh & Vanzyl, 2014). Based on these previous studies in the literature, this study suggests that the motivation of riches has a moderating impact on one's perception of wealth and intention to get money. Hence, the following hypothesis is postulated:

• H6a: Motivation of wealth strengthens the relationship between perception of wealth and intention to make money

It has been demonstrated that attempts to make money affect the rich and motivation for achievement and budget (Tang, 2016; Tang & Chen, 2008). There is an association between the rich's perception, motivation, and intention to make money. Individuals who perceive the rich as having a strong desire for money as well as foolish and harmful desires are more likely to act and make money (Tang & Liu, 2012, p.296). Because they want to be rich, money and the wealthy control their thoughts (Gültekin, 2018). Wu et al. (2018) assert that individuals' enthusiastic propensities are related to their social inclinations toward the rich. Individuals are bound to participate in uninvolved and dynamic damage for envy-disdain-rich subgroups. Those groups affect individual behaviors to make money (Su et al., 2021; Wu et al., 2018). Since explicit perception of the rich induces individuals' intention to work harder (Wu et al., 2018), wealth motivation enhances individuals' efforts to make money. Consequently, the following hypotheses are proposed:

• H6b: Motivation of wealth strengthens the relationship between explicit perception of the rich and intention to make money

• H6c: Motivation of wealth strengthens the relationship between implicit perception of the rich and intention to make money

It is revealed that individual behavioral control is an essential factor explaining the intention to make money (Cherry, 2019; Karakaya & Avgın, 2016). According to the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), behavioral control can shape behaviors (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). Notably, the motivation to control behavior is "capable of shifting the relative weights of automatic and controlled processes for a given behavior" (Friese et al., 2008, p.289). Individual controls will only be effective in guiding behavioral intention if there is motivation in the controlled process and an individual is sufficiently motivated (Fischer & Karl, 2022). If an individual is not motivated, it is difficult to transform behavioral control into an intention (Hagger et al., 2022). It is inferred that an individual motivated by wealth and behavioral control is more likely to make money. Therefore, the following hypothesis is advanced:

• H6d: Motivation of wealth strengthens the relationship between individual behavioral control and intention to make money

Moderating impact of the post Covid-19 opportunities

Previous studies have identified opportunities to moderate determinants of individual behavioral intentions in the response theory (Rios & Soland, 2021; Wise & DeMars, 2006), or investment (Baek et al., 2015). Andrew et al. (2022), Firfiray and Gomez-Mejia (2021), and Remko (2020) show the moderating role of the post-Covid-19 opportunities on the intention-behavior relationship. Li et al. (2021) also confirm the moderating effect of microblog opportunities on interaction behaviors. Hence, we hypothesize that:

• H7 (a,b,c,d): Post Covid-19 opportunity moderates the influence of the following factors on individual intention to make money: perception of wealth, explicit perception of the rich, implicit perception of the rich, and behavioral control.

The framework for exploring the impact of perception of wealth, perception of the rich, and motivation on intention to make money is proposed in Fig. 1, based on the development of abovementioned theoretical background and literature.

Fig. 1.

The proposed framework

Methodology

The country of study

Vietnam is the country where this study is conducted. A transition economy of Vietnam with rapidly rising income and economic opportunities provides an ideal context for investigating the determinants of individual intention to make money. As a result of Doi Moi policies leading to remarkable economic development during the last 35 years, Vietnam has become a middle-income country with a gross national income (GNI) per capita of 2,660 USD in 2020 (World Bank, 2021). The number of rich people is growing. A person in the one-percent club of the richest in Vietnam had a net worth of at least 160,000 USD (Nguyen, 2021). There were 458 ultra-rich people with a net worth of over 30 million USD in 2019, which doubled in 2015 (Nguyen, 2020). Knight Frank (2020) uses the wealth sizing model and estimates that the increase in Vietnam's extremely rich people will be the world's third-fastest. The number of extremely rich people in Vietnam will reach 753 by 2024.

Despite a sharp decline in poverty brought on by the country's substantial economic progress, there have been many poor people. A gap remains in income and other dimensions of well-being, such as education, health, participation, influence, and voice (World Bank, 2021). Therefore, it is important to understand individual behaviors towards wealth and individual behavioral intention to make money, which is an economic motivation to acquire wealth and obtain socio-economic development.

Measurement

To operationalize latent constructs in the study, scales have been taken from the prior literature with appropriate modifications in item wordings to fit with the context. Five items of wealth perception conform to the study of Tang (2020). These included items such as “The wealth can make me feel happy”, “the wealth can make people respect me”, “the wealth can reflect my success”, “the wealth can give me freedom”, and the wealth can make me love my job more”.

Meanwhile, Kreidl (2000) and Wu et al. (2018) adopted five items of explicit perception of the rich. Sample items are “I have sympathy for the rich”, “the rich benefit themselves and others”, “the rich do not create inequality in society”, “rich people make other opeole’s lives more difficult”.

Implicit perception of the rich is from two items used in the studies of Kreidl (2000) and Wu et al. (2018). The motivation of wealth has four components and is taken from Wu et al. (2018). Sample items include “The rich should not be taxed more”, “the rich should not be more scrutinized to avoid cheating”.

Individual behavioral control has five components, which are taken from the studies of Ajzen and Fishbein (2005) and Glanz et al. (2015). A sample items are “I am confident with how I earn money because I have knowledge and experience”, “I am confident with how I earn money because I have the financial resources”, or “I am confident with how I earn money because I have a strong network”.

The intention to make money has five items, which are adopted from Ajzen and Fishbein (2005), Glanz et al. (2015), and Wu et al. (2018). Sample items include “I will look for every opportunitiy to get rich in the future”, “I will learn from the rich to get rich in the future”, “I will invite my family, friends, and colleaguas to get rich in the future”. These items were measured on a five-point Likert scale from one for strongly disagree to five for strongly agree.

The post Covid-19 opportunity in this study belongs to the demographic question. It has one item validated through the research of Bunker (2020), which is “compare to before Covid-19, how do you see your opportunity to make money). This item is also measured on a five-point Likert scale from one for a significant decrease to five for considerable increase. Details of these items are presented in Table 1.

Table 1.

The measurement scale of proposed constructs

Code	Measurement scales	Source
Perception of wealth (POW)
POW1	The wealth can make me feel happy	Tang (2020)
POW2	The wealth can make people respect me
POW3	The wealth can reflect my success
POW4	The wealth can give me freedom
POW5	The wealth can make me love my job more
Explicit perception of the rich people (EXPOR)
EXPOR1	I have sympathy for the rich	Kreidl (2000) and Wu et al. (2018), Cato institute survey 2019
EXPOR2	The rich benefit themselves and others
EXPOR3	The rich do not create inequality in society
EXPOR4	Rich people make other people's lives more difficult
EXPOR5	The rich contribute to the development of the country
EXPOR6	Rich people deserve respect
Implicit perception of the rich people (IMPOR)
IMPOR1	The rich should not be taxed more	Kreidl (2000) and Wu et al. (2018), Cato institute survey 2019
IMPOR2	The rich should not be more scrutinized to avoid cheating
Motivation of wealthiness (MOT)
MOT1	My family and friends regularly talk to and encourage me to get rich	Kreidl (2000) and Wu et al. (2018), Cato institute survey 2019
MOT2	My company/organization/school regularly gives information and encourages me to get rich
MOT3	The mass media regularly gives information and encourages me to get rich
MOT4	The government regularly informs and encourages me to get rich
Individual behavioral control (IBC)
IBC1	I am confident with how I earn money because I have knowledge and experience	Ajzen and Fishbein (2005) and Glanz et al. (2015)
IBC2	I am confident with how I earn money because I have the financial resources
IBC3	I am confident with how I earn money because I have a strong network
IBC4	I am confident with how I earn money because of my family's power
IBC5	I am active in my search for opportunities to get rich
IBC6	I connect with others to get rich
IBC7	I decide on my own earning activities
Intention to make money (INT)
INT1	I will look for every opportunity to get rich in the future	Ajzen and Fishbein (2005) and Glanz et al. (2015), Wu et al. (2018)
INT2	I will learn from the rich to get rich in the future
INT3	I will invite my family, friends, and colleagues to get rich in the future
INT4	I will expand my connections with the rich to get rich in the future
INT5	I will take advantage of my family connections to get rich in the future
Perception of opportunity to make money After Covid-19
CVO	Compare to before Covid-19, how do you see your opportunity to make money? (from 1 for significant decrease to 5 for significant increase)	Bunker (2020)

Before conducting the formal survey to collect data, we conducted several preparatory steps. Firstly, the questionnaire was filled out by five academic psychology experts, who assess the feasibility and representativeness of each measurement item. Secondly, a pilot study with a sample of 100 people was collected online to identify the weakness and refine the wording of the measurement instrument. Cronbach's Alpha is an index to evaluate the validity of items included into the pilot survey. As the analysis shows CA of 0.73 to 0.88 for all constructs, we can confirm the validity and reliability of the survey questionnaire. The final version of the questionnaire was translated into Vietnamese by a professional translator and reviewed by a language editor to ensure the translated version's accuracy.

Population and sample

The sample unit in this study was Vietnamese individuals. The sampling technique was stratified sampling. This sampling method involves the division of the whole population into different strata based on three main characteristics: regions where the respondents live, gender of the respondents, and age of the respondents.

In terms of sample size, in case of lacking accurate data, previous studies apply a similar non-probability method a (Chen & Tsai, 2007). According to Hair et al. (2014), a satisfactory analysis using the structural equation modeling (SEM) requires a sample size of at least 300. A probability method is used to identify the sample size necessary to enable valid inferences about the population. We follow Horng et al. (2012) to calculate the required samples using a 95% confidence interval and ± 0.05 sampling error. As the population in Vietnam was approximately 97,400,000 in 2020 (General Statistics Office of Vietnam, 2021), the formulation is as follows:

$$\mathrm{Sample}\mathrm{size}=\frac{N}{N{(\frac{2d}{Z\frac{\propto }{2}})}^2+1}=\frac{97,400,000}{97,400,000{(\frac{2*0.05}{1.96})}^2+1}=384$$

We distributed the questionnaire to 1,500 people to obtain at least 400 responses. For the stratified sampling, we classify the regions where the respondents live into Northern, Central, and Southern Vietnam. We believe these regions are different in terms of history, culture, and economic conditions. We also assume that the gender and age of respondents are two critical characteristics that affect answers from the respondents. Based on the literature and interviews with the experts, we confirm that these factors are reasonable to form different stratifications for the sampling.

The questionnaire was distributed online via Qualtrics, an online survey platform, for two months, from July to August 2021. The online survey link was sent to respondents by email and posted on various social media channels such as Facebook, Zalo, and Viber. Due to the long lockdown period in many provinces in Vietnam during the survey, we could not conduct the on-site survey. After two months, we received 1,307 responses from people all over Vietnam. The data examination process includes four main steps: assessment of missing data, identification of unengaged responses, examination of outliers, and verification of data distribution. After checking the validity of the collected responses, we have a final sample of 991 responses representing a retrieval rate of 75.82%.

Bias correction

To ensure homogeneity in the survey study, we followed the suggestion of Becker and Iliff (1983), and Hammitt and McDonald (1982). They suggested that early respondents in one place do not differ from late respondents or respondents in other places and that they are homogeneous. In this study, we launched survey in three large area (Northern, Central, and Southern Vietnam) and we reached 1500 people with different ages, education, income and employment status. Moreover, we also employed the guidelines of Podsakoff et al. (2003) to tackle the common method bias problem.

The common method bias (CMB) is a problem in survey techniques due to simultaneous data collection for predictor/criterion variables via the same instrument and scaling, due to which variance sharing happens due to the method rather than the theory. We assumed that there were no right/wrong answers to the survey questions, which also helped to reduce bias. We also kept the reverse-coded items in the survey to break the cognitive monotony while taking long surveys (Gupta et al., 2016; Su & Chen, 2018). We also separated the measures to capture predictor variables such as perception of wealth from criterion variables such as that the wealth can make me feel happy by putting the former at the beginning and the latter by the end of the questionnaire. This process is a way to handle the CMB problem suggested by Podsakoff et al. (2003).

Further scrutiny of the CMB was done with the help of a common latent factor (CLF). A CLF was created in PLS and regressed on all indicators in the proposed model. While comparing this model with the model without CLF, no significant difference was observed across the paths in the two models. The process confirms that the CMB is not a problem in this study. With these following reasons, the homogeneity in our survey study is ensured.

Data analysis

We employed SEM to explore determinants of the Vietnamese intention to make money. Since this framework consists of both direct and indirect relationships as well as moderating effects, we chose the partial least squares structural equation modelling method (PLS-SEM) to analyze the data, although other methods such as covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) can be used. The PLS-SEM includes the measurement model in which it evaluates the validity and reliability of the items constituting to the latent constructs, and the structural model (i.e. the inner model) which measures the direct and indirect relationships between the latent variables (Hair et al., 2017).

Since this study aims to determine the significance of the moderator on the relationship between exogenous variables and the independent variable, i.e., INT, the two-stage approach is conducted, following Henseler and Chin (2010). Regarding people's opinions of the opportunity to make money after Covid-19, there are two groups with different perceptions. One reported that Covid-19 brings fewer opportunities. The other presented the same or more options. Thus, the multigroup analysis is employed to examine the moderating effect of the post-Covid-19 pandemic, as Hair et al. (2017) suggested.

Results

Sample profile

Table 2 provides the demographic factors of the respondents. About 64.38% of the respondents are in the under 30-year-old group. Female is dominant, with 66.9% of the respondents. Among the 991 respondents: 44.3% are full-time employees, 8.68% are part-time employees, and 7.37% are self-employed. The unemployment and student groups account for a total of 36.93%. The rest are the retired group and housewife/househusband.

Table 2.

Survey respondents’ characteristics

Characteristics	N	%	Characteristics	n	%
Gender			Monthly income (continued)
Male	322	32.49	20- < 30 mil VND	107	10.8
Female	663	66.9	30—< 40 mil VND	65	6.56
Other	6	0.61	40—< 80 mil VND	67	6.76
Age			80—< 200 mil VND	51	5.15
16—20	243	24.52	200—< 500 mil VND	18	1.82
20—30	395	39.86	> 500 mil VND	25	2.52
30—40	241	24.32	Job position
40—50	94	9.49	Leader	225	22.7
50—60	10	1.01	High level specialist	219	22.1
over 60	8	0.81	Medium level specialist	219	22.1
Marital status			Office staff	217	21.9
Unmarried	608	61.66	Service and sale staff	61	6.16
Married	339	34.38	Skilled labor in agriculture, forestry	8	0.81
Widowed	1	0.1	Craft labor and equivalence	9	0.91
Divorced	25	2.54	Mechanic	9	0.91
Separated	1	0.1	Unskilled labor	24	2.42
Others	12	1.22	Subjective economic status
Level of education			Very poor	191	19.27
Secondary school	1	0.1	Poor	363	36.63
High school	70	7.06	Neither poor nor rich	412	41.57
College	28	2.83	Rich	21	2.12
University	628	63.37	Very rich	4	0.4
Employment status			Post Covid-19 Opportunity to make money
Full time (> 40 h per week)	439	44.3	Much lower	168	16.45
Part time(< 40 h per week)	86	8.68	Lower	448	43.88
Self-employed	73	7.37	Stayed the same	266	26.05
Unemployed	31	3.13	Higher	120	11.75
Studying	335	33.8	Much higher	19	1.86
Retired	7	0.71	Post Covid-19 Effort to make money
Housewife/ househusband	3	0.3	Much lower	48	4.7
Others	17	1.72	Lower	230	22.53
Monthly income			Stayed the same	365	35.75
< 11 mil VND	486	49.04	Higher	319	31.24
11- < 20 mil VND	172	17.36	Much higher	59	5.78

It can be seen from Table 2 that most of the respondents were young people. It is not surprising that the number of unmarried respondents was relatively high, about 62%, while the number of people with a married status accounted for around 34.38%. Regarding occupation, most of the respondents were undergraduate and master's students, accounting for the highest proportion of 63.37% and 20.69%, respectively. Regarding income, the lowest income group is less than 11 million VND per month, accounting for 49.04% of the respondents. Only 5% of the respondents belong to the high-income group, with more than 200 million VND per month. About 30.77% of the respondents come from large cities such as Hai Phong, Ha Noi, Da Nang, Can Tho, and Ho Chi Minh.

One interesting and important piece of information obtained from this survey is the perception of Vietnamese people regarding an opportunity to earn money and their effort to make money after Covid-19. Table 2 shows that most respondents reported a reduced chance of making money after Covid-19. Reporting of much lower opportunity and lower opportunity is 16.45% and 43.88%, respectively. About 26.05% of the respondents mentioned that Covid-19 does not affect their opportunity to make money, while about 13% confirmed that Covid-19 brings more chances to make money. Covid-19 also motivated people to make money. About 36% of the respondents showed that they put higher effort into making money after the pandemic. In comparison, 35.75% of them kept the same pace, and only 27% put lower effort into making money.

Measurement model evaluation

Internal consistency reliability

In Table 3, Cronbach's Alpha values of all constructs range from 0.622 to 0.830, which are higher than the threshold value of 0.6, as suggested by Churchill (1979). Composite reliability (CR) values of all constructs are from 0.803 to 0.880, which are higher than the benchmark of 0.7 (Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994). These values assure the reliability of the internal consistency among these constructs.

Table 3.

Measurement model evaluation

Construct/Item	Factor loading	Cronbach's alpha	CR	AVE
Perception of wealth (POW)		0.738	0.834	0.558
POW1	0.732
POW2	0.743
POW3	0.803
POW5	0.707
Explicit perception of the rich people (EXPOR)		0.830	0.880	0.596
EXPOR1	0.717
EXPOR2	0.762
EXPOR4	0.743
EXPOR5	0.826
EXPOR6	0.805
Implicit perception of the rich people (IMPOR)		0.622	0.803	0.681
IMPOR1	0.974
IMPOR2	0.642
Motivation of wealthiness (MOT)		0.820	0.879	0.646
MOT1	0.800
MOT2	0.852
MOT3	0.781
MOT4	0.779
Individual behavioral control (IBC)		0.789	0.849	0.532
IBC1	0.671
IBC2	0.646
IBC3	0.686
IBC5	0.811
IBC6	0.815
Intention to make money (INT)		0.797	0.868	0.622
INT1	0.742
INT2	0.822
INT3	0.774
INT4	0.815

CR Composite reliability; AVE Average variance extracted

The convergent validity of the measurement model can be evaluated using factor loadings and average variance extracted (AVE). The Confirmatory Factor Analysis evaluates 29 measurement scales and choose ones with factor loading no less than 0.6 as suggested by Hair et al. (2017). After CFA, we excluded POW4, EXPOR3, IBC4, IBC7, and INT5, which have factor loadings of less than 0.6, from further analysis. The 24 items kept for the final analysis are presented in Table 3, in which 20/24 items had factor loadings greater than 0.7, representing satisfactory to good reliability levels. Four other items have a factor loading of 0.6 to 0.7, which are acceptable in exploratory research (Hair et al., 2017). The common variance in a specific construct is evaluated using AVE. If AVE value is higher than 0.5, it means the measurement model is converged. From the Table 3, AVE values are from 0.532 to 0.681, which is satisfy the condition of no less than 0.5 (Fornell & Larcker, 1981).

Discriminant validity

The discriminant of the measurement model can be checked using Fornell-Larcker criterion. It helps determine what extent a construct within its components differs from the others (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988). Table 4 demonstrates that the square root of the average variance extracted of each construct was compared with the correlation coefficient. This result found that the squared AVE was larger than the correlation coefficient. For example, the squarae root of AVE of EXPOR (explicit perception of the rich people) at 0.772 was higher than the other correlation coefficient (Expor and Impor at 0.306, Expor and IBC at 0.146; Expor and INT at 0.124; Expor and MOT at 0.646; Expor and POW at 0.558). Therefore, Table 4 confirms the existence of discriminant validity and the uniqueness and distinctness of the research constructs.

Table 4.

Fornell-Larcker criterion of the measurement model

Construct	AVE	EXPOR	IMPOR	IBC	INT	MOT	POW
EXPOR	0.596	0.772
IMPOR	0.681	0.306	0.825
IBC	0.532	0.146	0.070	0.730
INT	0.622	0.124	0.077	0.487	0.789
MOT	0.646	0.010	-0.019	0.345	0.420	0.804
POW	0.558	0.130	0.002	0.148	0.293	0.179	0.747

AVE Average variance extracted; EXPOR explicit perception of the rich people; IMPOR implicit perception of the rich people; IBC individual behavioral control; INT intention to make money; MOT motivation of wealthiness; POW perception of wealth

After checking the internal consistency reliability, convergent validity and discriminant validity, the proposed measurement model is confirmed to be suitable for this study.

Structural model evaluation

Model fit

To examine the effects of the proposed factors on intention to make money, we employed the partial least squares structural equation modelling method (PLS-SEM) to analyze the data. The first work is to check the structural model of the framework. The result of checking model is suitable for the study if the results of the standardized root mean square residual (SRMR), the squared Euclidean distance (d-ULS), and the geodesic distance (d-G) meet suggested benchmarks. The SRMR = 0.009 which is lower than the threshold of 0.08 (Henseler et al., 2016a, b), indicating that the satisfactory structural model fits the requirement. Besides, other indices such as d-ULS = 2.407, and d-G = 0.350 are all meet the threshold values suggested by Henseler et al., (2016a, b). After the model fit is acceptable, we moved to evaluate the hypothesis testing.

Direct relationship

The direct relationships between proposed latent variables and the intention to make money are all statistically significant at 1% of significance except for Hypotheses H2a and H2b (See Table 5). It can be concluded that the intention to make money of Vietnamese people is positively influenced by factors such as explicit perception of the rich, where βEXPOR → INT = 0.040 and p = 0.098, implicit perception of the rich, where βIMPOR → INT = 0.049 and p = 0.069), individual behavioral control, where βIBC → INT = 0.358 and p = 0.000, and perception of wealth, where βPOW → INT = 0.193 and p = 0.000. The effect of individual behavioral control is the greatest. Both explicit perceptions of the rich and individual behavioral control are good predictors of perception of wealth, having coefficient values of 0.124 with p < 0.01 and 0.133 with p < 0.01, respectively. Implicit perception of the rich does not have any effect on the perception of wealth, where βIMPOR → POW = -0.045 and p = 0.238, as proposed in Hypothesis H2a. In addition, implicit perception of the rich does not affect the individual behavioral control, where βIMPOR → IBC = 0.028 and p = 0.249.

Table 5.

Results of direct effects among constructs

Path relations (Hypothesis)	Path coefficient	SD	t-stat	p-value	Result
H1a: EXPOR =  > POW	0.124***	0.043	2.884	0.002	Accepted
H1b: EXPOR =  > INT	0.040*	0.031	1.292	0.098	Accepted
H1c: EXPOR =  > IBC	0.137***	0.042	3.272	0.001	Accepted
H2a: IMPOR =  > POW	-0.045 ns	0.063	0.712	0.238	Rejected
H2b: IMPOR =  > IBC	0.028 ns	0.041	0.679	0.249	Rejected
H2c: IMPOR =  > INT	0.049*	0.033	1.480	0.079	Rejected
H3: POW =  > INT	0.193***	0.030	6.484	0.000	Accepted
H4: IBC =  > POW	0.133***	0.043	3.064	0.001	Accepted
H5: IBC =  > INT	0.358***	0.033	10.820	0.000	Accepted

* < 0.05, ** < 0.01, *** < 0.001

Total effect on intention to make money

Table 6 presents the total effects of different determinants on Vietnamese people's intention to make money. IBC has the greatest total effect on INT, where β = 0.383 and p < 0.01, which is followed by POW, where β = 0.193 and p < 0.01 and EXPOR, where β = 0.117 and p < 0.01. This result indicates that individual behavioral control is the most important determinant in promoting Vietnamese people to make money.

Table 6.

Results of the total effect on intention to make money

Total effect	Path coefficient	SD	t-value	p-value
EXPOR—> INT	0.117***	0.034	3.403	0.000
IBC—> INT	0.383***	0.034	11.255	0.000
IMPOR—> INT	0.051	0.043	1.195	0.116
POW—> INT	0.193***	0.030	6.484	0.000

* < 0.05, ** < 0.01, *** < 0.001

Moderation analysis

To analyze the moderating effect of motivation of wealth, we employed a two-stage approach in PLS-SEM. According to Roy et al. (2020); Schadde et al. (2013), and Glajchen et al. (2011), the significant level at 6% is acceptable in two-stage approach. Therefore, in this study we accept the results at 6% significant level and reject the results having p-value above 6%. The findings show that motivation of wealth only enhances the relationship between perception of wealth and intention to make money. Meanwhile, motivation of wealth is found to have an insignificant influence on other three-pair links (Table 7). Therefore, Hypothesis H6a is accepted, while Hypotheses H6b, H6c, and H6d are not accepted.

Table 7.

Moderating effect of motivation

Path relations (Hypothesis)	Path coefficient	SD	t-stat	p-value	Result
H6a: Moderating Effect POW—> INT	0.043*	0.028	1.545	0.060	Accepted
H6b: Moderating Effect EXPOR—> INT	-0.010 ns	0.028	0.371	0.355	Rejected
H6c: Moderating Effect IMPOR—> INT	-0.055*	0.042	1.306	0.096	Rejected
H6d: Moderating Effect IBC—> INT	0.000 ns	0.028	0.003	0.499	Rejected

* < 0.05, ** < 0.01, *** < 0.001

To analyze the impact of the post-Covid-19 opportunity, we conducted the multigroup analysis in PLS-SEM. Results in Table 8 show that the post-Covid-19 opportunity moderates the influence of perception of wealth and explicit perception of the rich on intention to make money. Hence, Hypotheses H7a and H7b are supported.

Table 8.

Multigroup analysis results

	Effect	Path Coefficients Difference (Post Covid-19 opportunity High – Low)	Henseler's MGA	p-value	Permutation Test	p-value	Supported H/P
EXPOR—> INT	Direct	-0.093	0.778	0.222	-0.093	0.140	No/No
IBC—> INT	Direct	-0.024	0.597	0.403	-0.024	0.415	No/No
IMPOR—> INT	Direct	0.128	0.067*	0.067	0.128*	0.077	No/No
POW—> INT	Direct	0.107	0.076*	0.046	0.107*	0.103	Yes/Yes
EXPOR—> INT	Total	-0.240	0.957	0.043	-0.240	0.021	Yes/Yes

Discussion

Theoretical contribution

This study analyzes determinants of individual intention to make money which is considered as the most important motivation to promote the economic development in the context of an emerging economy. “Rich people, strong country” is the value and goal of an emerging economy like Vietnam. This goal is in line with the aspirations and desires of all classes of people by which gathering the people's wisdom and strength, encouraging the people to build socialism, promoting the people's positivity and self-discipline in the cause of industrialization and modernization. Therefore, this study means to bring abundant material life, truly rich spiritual life for each individual and society as a whole. If the people are rich, the country will be strong. In light of the results, this study has several contributions to literature.

Firstly, this study addresses the highest impact of individual behavioral control on the intention to make money. This result supports the findings of Tang (2016) and Farrell et al. (2016), who demonstrate individual capacity in their investment and savings. Moreover, individual behavioral control is found a mediator in transforming the explicit perception of the rich into an individual intention to make money. This result is in line with the research of Han (2015) and Khazaeian et al. (2022), which indicate a link between individual control and intention. It is confirmed that the personal perception of whether making money is under one's control and within their capacity and that people with a positive sense of individual control are more likely to attempt to make money, especially in an emerging economy. Apart from that, as indicated above, people with stronger beliefs in internal locus of control, competence, self-efficacy, and perceived control usually exhibit positive traits.

Secondly, the study also asserts that the perception of wealth influences the intention to make money, similar to other studies by Tang and Liu (2012) and Tang (2010). Additionally, perception of wealth has a mediating role in transferring individual perception of the rich and individual behavioral control to their intention to make money. These findings are similar to the works of Tang (2016) and Tang et al. (2018). They argued that if a person admires the rich, and gives the rich respect, many likely think that if they are wealthy, they should get the same respect and admiration from others. The perceived meaning of wealth can motivate people’s aspiration to create wealth.

In addition, the study's results demonstrate the impact of the perception of the rich on the intention to make money. More specifically, explicit perception of the rich directly and indirectly affect intention. This finding is in line with Arafat and Mohamed Ibrahim (2018). Implicit perception of the rich is not directly related to individual intention, which diverges from the study of Ajzen and Fishbein (2018). These findings suggest that individuals who have positive awareness of the rich are willing to make more money. If they perceive the rich negatively, they do not like making so much money. Ensuring minimum material conditions is essential for human life; However, people also have the right to work and to live a healthy life.

Thirdly, this study also highlights the moderator role of wealth motivation in the relationship between perception of wealth and intention to make money. It is found that encouraging government and society toward wealth in an emerging economy like Vietnam will strongly motivate people to get rich. However, there exists an insignificant moderating role of motivation of wealth on other three-pair relationships: explicit perception of the rich and intention to make money, implicit perception and intention to make money, and individual control and intention to make money. These findings are in line with the previous studies indicating the millennial intention to make money in their family business and stating that motivation of stewardship, social-emotional wealth, and intention to make money have significant correlations (Riznika & Stefanus Kaihatu, 2021). These findings may be somewhat different from the research of Su and Chen (2018), Gültekin (2018), and Fischer and Karl (2022), which suggest the role of motivation of wealth in pushing individual intention to make money. Perhaps, the government incentives/supports are not strong enough to become socio-economic leverage in transferring individual perception toward the rich and individual control to their intention to make money. Because, in addition to material needs, people need spiritual needs, family relationships, friends, community and life goals, contributing to society and thereby, contributing to building a healthy society.

Moreover, the study confirms that the perception of wealth and the perception of the rich progressively shift to the positive in recent years as people acknowledge the efforts one needs to pay to prosper. These perceptions are diversified among different groups of age, gender, and rural and urban areas. There is a difference in the perception of the rich's warmth and competence among people from urban and rural areas. Instead of envying wealth and the rich, people acknowledge the competence and warmth of those rich people in urban areas, while they do not report these characteristics of the rich in rural areas. This finding implies a positive fact supporting the future development of an emerging economy.

Finally, the study also highlights the important role of the post-Covid-19 opportunity in moderating the influence of perception of wealth and explicit perception of the rich on individual intention to make money. These findings are consistent with the studies of Andrew et al. (2022), Firfiray and Gomez-Mejia (2021), and Remko (2020). This study is the first to shed light on the internal factors of individuals and external factors coming from the post-Covid-19 context and the motivation of government and society, which affect their efforts to make money.

Managerial implications

This study proposes several implications to governments, policymakers, and individuals in emerging economies to encourage people to get rich. The social and psychological aspects of the concept of “rich people” are important to obtain economic development. Firstly, the explicit perception of the rich must be increased to gain individual intention to make money. Governments should have regulations to honor individuals who get rich legally so that people can be more motivated to accumulate wealth. Secondly, to increase individual control toward wealth, governments in emerging economies should have poverty alleviation policies through facilitating infrastructure, encouraging self-development, and increasing production capacity. Promoting sustainable poverty reduction associated with the promotion of wealth will enable the model of social stratification in a positive trend and reduce inequality between social classes, especially in the context of Covid-19. Thirdly, governments should focus on social and credit policies for the poor to create the motivation for wealth. Governments should not only develop the rural areas by calling various kinds of investment and develop education and vocational training but also ensure social security to reduce poverty and obtain socio-economic development. Finally, the study finds that those inspired by the wealth and the rich are more motivated, willing to work harder and accept risks, and ready to exert more effort to earn and become rich. This finding is important to motivate people to work harder. Consequently, mass media and social networks are essential tools to increase individuals' perception of wealth and encourage them to get rich legally.

Conclusion and limitations

This study reveals that being well awareness of individual intention to make money needs comprehensive knowledge about the impact of perception of the rich and wealth, individual behavioral control, and motivation of wealth in the context of post-Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, investigating the intention to get rich represents the completeness, economic development and poverty deduction on a national and individual scale while it also denotes a state of happiness. This study not only presents simple wealth and human living but also goes hand in hand with physical, psychological and social development. This study contributes implications to government and policymakers in developing countries to design appropriate policies that aim for social equality and reducing economic disparities, which would undoubtedly occur given the wealth discrepancies between social strata.

This study also has certain limitations that could pave the way for further studies. First, the theoretical model was conceived and tested partially among the individuals in society in general. Replicating studies for certain groups in certain industry (i.e., agriculture production, service industry, manufacturing companies) may not yield the same results. Therefore, further scrutiny of the proposed model while replicating the findings in other contexts is needed. Moreover, future studies can take a longitudinal approach using a dashboard and see how individual perceptions of the rich shape their intention to make money. Future researchers may also study the multidimensional role of behavioral intention. In addition, the model in this study does not capture community-based relationship variables such as legal concerns and commitment, which could be a potential topic for future studies. Finally, future studies should consider the variations due to wealth patterns that may shape the overall meaning of individual behaviors toward getting rich.

Authors contribution

Nguyen Thi Khanh Chi: Conceptualization, methodology, writing – original draft.

Huong-Giang Pham: Conceptualization, methodology, data collection, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, writing – original draft.

Andreas Stoffers: Investigating, project administration, funding acquisition, data collection, review final draft.

Doan Thi Phuong Anh: data collection, formal analysis, investigation, data curation, writing – original draft.

Vu Hoang Nam: Investigating, project administration, funding acquisition, writing – review & editing.

Data availability

The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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The research entitled "Perception of wealth and intention to make money in Vietnam” has been granted the ethical approval based on the regulations of Foreign Trade University.

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