Integrating financial literacy into economics courses through digital tools: the Finlite app

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Khoo Yin Yin ◽  
Rohaila Yusof ◽  
Yumiko Abe
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Financial Literacy ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Mobile App ◽  
Digital Tools ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Economics Courses ◽  
Financial Issues

Purpose This study aims to analyze the effect of the Finlite mobile app on the financial literacy of undergraduate business students in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach This study uses a quasi-experimental pre-intervention design. The data are collected using a quiz and a questionnaire. Cluster sampling is adopted for three different zones in Malaysia. A total of 400 business students enrolled in economics courses participated in the intervention. Findings The results indicate that Finlite significantly promotes students’ savings intentions, practices, decision-making, accountability, values and financial literacy. All results are analyzed based on gender and race. However, Finlite does not significantly help overcome students’ financial issues such as credit card debt and poor spending behavior. Practical implications Financial literacy may be efficiently promoted through digital tools integrated into economics courses. Young adults can make optimal financial decisions after graduation. Future research should explore different courses, addressing undergraduate and high-school students. Originality/value Previous studies predominantly examine attitudes and behaviors related to financial literacy. In contrast, this study measures the ex post impact of the Finlite mobile app on savings intentions, practices, decision-making, accountability, ability to overcome financial issues and value for money.

Do “rising stars” avoid risk?: status-based labels and decision making

2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Kotlyar ◽  
Leonard Karakowsky ◽  
Mary Jo Ducharme ◽  
Janet A. Boekhorst
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Corporate Strategy ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Risk Tolerance ◽  
High Potential ◽  
Future Research ◽  
High Status ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Risky Decision ◽  
Content Type

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine how status-based labels, based on future capabilities, can impact people's risk tolerance in decision making. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper the authors developed and tested theoretical arguments using a set of three studies employing a scenario-based approach and a total of 449 undergraduate business students. Findings – The findings suggest that labeling people in terms of future capabilities can trigger perceptions of public scrutiny and influence their risk preferences. Specifically, the results reveal that individuals who are recipients of high-status labels tend to choose lower risk decision options compared to their peers. Research limitations/implications – The study employed scenarios to examine the issue of employee labeling. The extent to which these scenarios have truly captured the dynamics of labeling is questionable, and future research should employ a field-based study to examine whether the reported effect can be observed in a “real” work context. Practical implications – Organizations are concerned about their future leadership capacity and often attempt to grow leadership talent by identifying high-potential employees early on. The results of this study suggest that such practice may have an unintentional negative effect of reducing high-potentials’ tolerance toward risky decision making, thus potentially impacting these future leaders’ decision making in the realm of corporate strategy, R&D, etc. Originality/value – The issue of how labeling individuals in terms of future capabilities can impact their risk preference has been largely ignored by organizational research. This paper suggests that the popular practice of identifying high-potential employees may have unintentional negative effects by lowering their risk tolerance.

Financial literacy programs and youth entrepreneurial attitudes: some insights from the Jordanian community

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 787-810
Author(s):  
Nour Walid Aljaouni ◽  
Baker Alserhan ◽  
Kimberly Gleason ◽  
Jusuf Zeqiri
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Financial Literacy ◽  
Literacy Program ◽  
School Students ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Entrepreneurial Attitudes ◽  
Students Attitudes ◽  
K 12 ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of a financial literacy program (FLP) recently implemented in Jordanian junior high and high schools as part of a national financial literacy agenda on students’ attitudes toward entrepreneurship relative to a control sample of students who had not yet participated in the FLP. This paper also examines the role of moderating variables, including students’ perception of teachers’ attitudes (TA) on students’ entrepreneurial attitudes. Design/methodology/approach Survey methodology was used to obtain data and hierarchical regression analysis was used to test hypotheses. Findings Results indicate that students who completed the FLP exhibited significantly higher entrepreneurial awareness than those that had not yet participated in the program. Students who took the entrepreneurship module of the FLP exhibited significantly lower entrepreneurial intention than those that had not yet taken the entrepreneurship module. However, TA did not impact students’ attitudes. Research limitations/implications The study examines a sample of middle and high school students in only one district in Amman, Jordan, and cannot be generalized to other communities where the FLP has been implemented. Practical implications The findings provide valuable insights for educators, policymakers and non-governmental organizations considering large scale, publicly funded FLPs as part of the K-12 educational system. Social implications Stakeholders should consider reforms to the implementation of entrepreneurship education as part of the FLP in Jordanian schools and other developing country K-12 programs. Originality/value This study is the first to examine the new Jordanian literacy program and the impact it has on attitudes toward entrepreneurship of middle and high school students.

scholarly journals Costing in the Newcastle Infirmary, 1840-1888

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 465-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Warwick Funnell ◽  
Andrew Holden ◽  
David Oldroyd
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Provincial Hospital ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Costing System ◽  
And Function ◽  
Decision Making Tool

Purpose – This paper examines the nature and function of cost accounting at the Newcastle Infirmary, a large voluntary provincial hospital, established in 1751. In particular, the paper adds to the literature on accounting within early voluntary hospitals by identifying the relative contributions of the costing system to planning and controlling the operations, assisting decision making and holding managers accountable for their performance. Design/methodology/approach – The paper relies primarily on original documents preserved in the archives of the Newcastle Infirmary. Findings – Although evidence was found of quite sophisticated costing systems, the findings suggest that the majority of the information was produced ex post by the hospital management to demonstrate good stewardship and to engender financial support. Research limitations/implications – More cases are needed of other hospitals to ascertain how typical the Newcastle Infirmary was of the voluntary hospital sector in the nineteenth century. Originality/value – Although there are other studies of accounting within British voluntary hospitals, and studies of the use of accounting to drive decision making in profit-making organisations during the nineteenth century, none have investigated the use of accounting as a decision-making tool in a voluntary hospital.

Skills and household financial decision-making in Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (11) ◽  
pp. 1433-1450
Author(s):  
Arief Wibisono Lubis
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Ability ◽  
Financial Literacy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Household Decision ◽  
Financial Decision Making ◽  
Household Decision Making ◽  
Financial Decision

PurposeThis study examines whether financial literacy is a relevant factor that determines authority in household financial decision-making, an area that is often viewed as boring, difficult and full of uncertainties. Cognitive ability and personality traits are also included as additional explanatory variables.Design/methodology/approachThe logistic regression technique was applied using a sample of more than 2,300 microfinance institutions' clients in three provinces in Indonesia.FindingsThis study finds that financial literacy correlates positively with authority in household financial decision-making only among men. This does not mean that financial literacy is irrelevant for women's agency, since the skill might be important for authorities in other decision-making areas, including those outside households. Meanwhile, the relationship between cognitive ability and household financial decision-making authority is more universal.Research limitations/implicationsThis study does not collect information on the levels of financial literacy of other household members and does not capture respondents' perceptions of household financial decision-making.Social implicationsThe overall low level of financial literacy calls for the need for more targeted efforts to address this issue by policymakers. Education policy should also be designed to improve cognitive ability, as this ability is important for human agency and well-being.Originality/valueHousehold decision-making has received significant attention in the literature. Authority in household decision-making is important because it represents a person's agency and has a profound impact on well-being. To the best of author's knowledge, studies on the importance of skills in household financial decision-making are very limited.

Are business students more financially literate? Evidence of differences in financial literacy amongst Portuguese college students

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulo Duarte ◽  
Susana Silva ◽  
Wilian Ramalho Feitosa ◽  
Rui Sebastião
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
College Students ◽  
Financial Literacy ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Financial Education ◽  
Educational Interventions ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Considering the importance of financial literacy (FL) in people’s lives the goal of this study aims to assess the level of FL of young Portuguese students, addressing the impact of the level of education on the FL of college students. Design/methodology/approach Data from a non-probabilistic sample of 185 students attending higher education bachelor’s and master’s degrees courses in Economics, Management and Marketing was collected between February 25 and March 23, 2019, using an online questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were computed using IBM SPSS 25 to analyze the data. Findings The findings show that the level of the degree (bachelor’s or master’s degree) and the academic background of the individual’s parents have a positive impact on FL. Moreover, among individuals with a high level of FL, gender and professional situation are additional predictors. Furthermore, the authors observed that the level of FL of Portuguese students attending higher education is overall low, especially in terms of their knowledge of the main financial concepts, which may call for public policies to be implemented so that to reduce this vulnerability. Research limitations/implications Among limitations is the limited sample collected, restricted to a particular target, Portuguese students attending business-related courses such as Economics, Management and Marketing, either studying for a master’s or bachelor’s degree. This issue restricts the generalization of the overall findings to other students studying different fields. Future studies can collect a random and representative sample. Practical implications This study test can be replicated to generate a diagnosis in any region or country, identifying how financially literate the region under analysis is. Also, this can be done to verify the evolution of FL after educational interventions. Social implications FL is an important competence. In fact, youngsters in the whole world have been suffering from a lack of financial knowledge (FK), and some characteristics of them can push them into indebtedness, and, even bankruptcy, such as a higher level of status consumption, the tendency to have an attitude of self-appraisal, to be self-centered, to seek instant gratification. This study helps to lead to a better understanding of this phenomenon. Originality/value Addressing college students attending different levels is an add-on to the existing body of literature. This paper contributes to study differences in FL between college and master students, enlightening and evaluating the role of scholarship maturity on financial education. Furthermore, some of the findings challenge the extant knowledge regarding the influence of professional experience, gender and age on the level of FK that students have. Finally, the current approach is innovative as it addresses FK, FL and numeracy in the same study.

Past behaviour, financial literacy and investment decision-making process of individual investors

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1243-1263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajdeep Kumar Raut
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Financial Literacy ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Investment Decision ◽  
Individual Investors ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Investment Decision Making ◽  
External Variables

PurposeThis study aims to explore the importance of past behaviour and financial literacy in the investment decision-making of individual investors and examines the validity of the theory of planned behaviour in this context.Design/methodology/approachThe study used a self-administered questionnaire and adopted the convenience sampling technique followed by a snowball sampling method for the survey to collect data from the individual investors covering the four distinct states of India. Collected data were analysed on AMOS 20.0 using two-step structural equation modelling (SEM).FindingsResults indicated a significant effect of all the predictive variables. Past behaviour showed no significant direct impact on investor's intention; however, it had an indirect significant relationship while mediated by the attitude of investors. The multiple squared correlation (R2) showed that the final model could explain 36% of the variance in investors' intention towards stock investment which signified a successful implementation of the TPB model along with external variables added to it. Moreover, Indian investors were found to be highly influenced, primarily, by social pressure which could be curbed through financial literacy.Practical implicationsA significant importance of subjective norms was found on stock market participation which could be a strategic theme for the government and the policymakers to educate investors through their opinion leaders for increasing their participation. Moreover, by doing so investors could control their behaviour and take rational decisions.Originality/valueThis study extended the understandings of investor's decision-making behaviour using TPB by incorporating the two external variables viz., Financial literacy and past behaviour. The addition of past behaviour is perhaps the novelty of this article since such examination has not been conducted empirically especially in the case of developing countries like India.

Evaluating the effectiveness of an online module for increasing financial literacy

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-167 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Wolla
Keyword(s):  
Online Learning ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Learning Strategies ◽  
Financial Literacy ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Financial Knowledge ◽  
School Level ◽  
School Students ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Level Data

Purpose Financial literacy is lacking across all age groups, but less than one-third of young adults have even basic financial knowledge. Research has demonstrated that online learning is effective. As such, online learning strategies may be a useful tool for improving the financial literacy of high school students. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach This study uses student-level (N=3,061) and school-level data (n=100) to examine the effectiveness of Soar to Savings, an online learning module that teaches key personal finance and economics concepts. Findings The findings show large, positive, and statistically significant gains in learning from pretest to posttest for the student-level and school-level samples. Originality/value The results provide evidence that Soar to Savings is an effective tool for increasing financial knowledge.

Entrepreneurship development and financial literacy in Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 281-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Habib Auwal Abubakar
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Financial Literacy ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Literacy Skills ◽  
Access To Finance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Entrepreneurship Development ◽  
Financial Decision Making ◽  
Financial Decision

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the level of financial literacy in Africa based on previous studies and evidence from financial literacy surveys, with the aim of establishing how financial literacy impacts entrepreneurship development in Africa. The study specifically looks at how financial literacy affects the household behaviour regarding financial decision making, as well as the gender gap in financial literacy. As financial literacy is gaining momentum both in developed economies with sophisticated financial systems and developing countries with low levels of financial services, this research seeks to establish a formal relationship between financial literacy and access to finance and what impact both have for developing an entrepreneurship society in Africa. It also focuses on the relationship between financial decision making and gender as well as access to finance with the aim of carefully examining the implications on entrepreneurship development. Design/methodology/approach – To attain the above objective, the study employed a mixed methodology research design where both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. A survey method on financial literacy, conducted by: (Finscope, OECD) was thoroughly analysed in addition to previous work on entrepreneurship development, financial literacy, access to finance and poverty reduction in Africa. Findings – The results show that the difficulties in access to finance, access to market, policy support and entrepreneurship culture are the main problems and constraints on entrepreneurship development in Africa which has a very strong implication for financial literacy on the continent particularly on micro, small and medium enterprises. Other important problems include unfavorable investment climate, absence of entrepreneurship training programmes, unfriendly investment business environment, gender gap and lack of value chain in the entrepreneurship ecosystem. Research limitations/implications – The paper is limited to the established survey and mainly concentrates on Africa. Practical implications – African governments and other development partners should re-evaluate their intervention programmes to strengthen financial literacy skills while simultaneously supporting entrepreneurship development by promoting an entrepreneurship culture through the right policy that will actively stimulate the development of entrepreneurs that will contribute to entrepreneurship ecosystems and ultimately enhance Africa’s economic development. Originality/value – This paper aims at enhancing understanding of entrepreneurship development and financial literacy in Africa and will help policy makers and researcher fill the missing gap between financial literacy and entrepreneurship education. The recommendations made could significantly boost entrepreneurship activities as well as enhance financial literacy skills in the region, which can as well help increase access to finance on the continent.

Debt-equity decision-making with wealth transfers

2014 ◽  
Vol 40 (12) ◽  
pp. 1223-1250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Hull
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Capital Structure ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Valuation Method ◽  
Security Values ◽  
Financial Decision ◽  
Pedagogical Research ◽  
The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to instruct advanced business students on the debt-equity choice by showing how wealth transfers between security holders influence security values when a levered firm undergoes an incremental debt-to-equity approach. Design/methodology/approach – The design involves a pedagogical exercise that applies gain to leverage (GL) formulas for a firm aspiring to increase its value by exchanging debt for equity. The valuation method includes perpetuity formulations including those with growth and wealth transfers. The instructional approach offers an understanding of the debt-equity decision. Findings – Unlike studies that provide empirical findings or new theories, this paper provides knowledge and skills for students learning capital structure decision making. Research limitations/implications – All GL equations in this paper are limited by derivational assumptions and estimation of values for variables. Practical implications – This paper bridges the gap between theory and practice by illustrating the impact of the costs of borrowings, growth rates and risk shifts on debt-equity decision making. Students will learn and apply GL equations. They will get an appreciation for the practical complexities of financial decision making including the agency complication embodied in wealth transfers. Social implications – Society can be enhanced to the extent this paper helps future financial managers make optimal capital structure decisions. Originality/value – This paper adds to the Capital Structure Model (CSM) pedagogical research by using the new CSM equations that address a levered situation and incremental approach. As such, it is the first CMS instructional paper to incorporate wealth transfers between security holders.

scholarly journals Deconstructing the corporate psychopath: an examination of deceptive behavior

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corey Allen Shank
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Unethical Behavior ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Business Students ◽  
Fundamental Difference ◽  
Psychopathic Personality ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Deceptive Behavior ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Psychopathic Tendencies

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine whether business students deceive others more often than non-business students. Design/methodology/approach A cheap talk experiment and an ethics questionnaire are employed to examine the subject’s behavior. Fundamental differences, such as psychopathic personality, are used to examine their role in deceptive and unethical behavior. Findings The results show that business students deceive others for personal gain more often than non-business students when there is the most to gain; however, business students find deception committed by others as unethical. Business students exhibit more psychopathic tendencies compared to non-business students, including being more likely to fit the prototypical psychopath profile. This fundamental difference in psychopathy can help explain why individuals deceive others and behave unethically. Practical implications These results have important implications for the business industry and the design of policies. Originality/value Thus, this study endeavors to advance the literature on fundamental distinctions between those who work in high levels of organizations and how this fundamental difference impacts decision making.

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