The company's credit granting process: A study on borrower behaviour

The value of a company is the result of the actions implemented by its managers. Working capital management, which includes credit granting processes, has a direct impact on these aspects. Many customers, due to limitations on cash purchases, opt for credit, even though the company is not certain that the credit granted will be honoured according to the established parameters. In this context, there are questions as to whether social, psychological and behavioural factors could predict who will become indebted or have problems with indebtedness, beyond the obvious economic factors of need and income, which are currently investigated when granting credit. In this sense, the general objective of this study was to analyse whether behavioural variables and those that consider psychological aspects, such as financial education, attitudes towards indebtedness, materialism, time orientation and self-control, added to the sociodemographic data of individuals, are capable of explaining their indebtedness status more accurately, in order to contribute to credit scoring models for minimising credit risk.