IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/beexfi/v28y2020ics2214635020303324.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A proposal of a financial knowledge scale based on item response theory

Author

Listed:
  • Vieira, Kelmara Mendes
  • Potrich, Ani Caroline Grigion
  • Bressan, Aureliano Angel

Abstract

The evaluation of financial knowledge is still a controversial subject in the literature, and this work seeks to advance by proposing instruments for this evaluation. Based on the related literature, twenty-four questions were adapted in the initial instrument. Using Item Response Theory, a synthetic instrument was developed, with twelve questions that evaluate three levels of items: basic, intermediate and advanced. From the skill and anchor items scale, two smaller scales of nine and seven items were also derived for financial knowledge assessment. The scales proposed in this study innovate by differing from those commonly used in the literature, by considering not only the percentage of correct answers but also the parameters of the item that the individual answers correctly. The three scales have items from different levels of knowledge, allowing researchers, educators, and policymakers to choose which is the most appropriate to their objectives.

Suggested Citation

  • Vieira, Kelmara Mendes & Potrich, Ani Caroline Grigion & Bressan, Aureliano Angel, 2020. "A proposal of a financial knowledge scale based on item response theory," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:beexfi:v:28:y:2020:i:c:s2214635020303324
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbef.2020.100405
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214635020303324
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbef.2020.100405?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Florian Deuflhard & Dimitris Georgarakos & Roman Inderst, 2019. "Financial Literacy and Savings Account Returns," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 131-164.
    2. Flore-Anne Messy & Chiara Monticone, 2016. "Financial Education Policies in Asia and the Pacific," OECD Working Papers on Finance, Insurance and Private Pensions 40, OECD Publishing.
    3. Lusardi, Annamaria & Mitchell, Olivia S., 2011. "Financial literacy and retirement planning in the United States," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(4), pages 509-525, October.
    4. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2008. "Planning and Financial Literacy: How Do Women Fare?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 413-417, May.
    5. Maarten C.J. van Rooij & Annamaria Lusardi & Rob J.M. Alessie, 2012. "Financial Literacy, Retirement Planning and Household Wealth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(560), pages 449-478, May.
    6. Potrich, Ani Caroline Grigion & Vieira, Kelmara Mendes & Kirch, Guilherme, 2018. "How well do women do when it comes to financial literacy? Proposition of an indicator and analysis of gender differences," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 28-41.
    7. van Rooij, Maarten C.J. & Lusardi, Annamaria & Alessie, Rob J.M., 2011. "Financial literacy and retirement planning in the Netherlands," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 593-608, August.
    8. Melissa A. Z. Knoll & Carrie R. Houts, 2012. "The Financial Knowledge Scale: An Application of Item Response Theory to the Assessment of Financial Literacy," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 381-410, September.
    9. Maximilian D. Schmeiser & Jason S. Seligman, 2013. "Using the Right Yardstick: Assessing Financial Literacy Measures by Way of Financial Well-Being," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(2), pages 243-262, July.
    10. repec:ecj:econjl:v:122:y:2012:i::p:449-478 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Chen, Haiyang & Volpe, Ronald P., 1998. "An Analysis of Personal Financial Literacy Among College Students," Financial Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 107-128.
    12. Chauhan, Yogesh & Dey, Dipanjan Kumar, 2020. "Does financial literacy affect the value of financial advice? A contingent valuation approach," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    13. Ani Caroline Grigion Potrich & Kelmara Mendes Vieira, 2018. "Demystifying financial literacy: a behavioral perspective analysis," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 41(9), pages 1047-1068, May.
    14. Klapper, Leora & Lusardi, Annamaria & Panos, Georgios A., 2013. "Financial literacy and its consequences: Evidence from Russia during the financial crisis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 3904-3923.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Azra Zaimovic & Anes Torlakovic & Almira Arnaut-Berilo & Tarik Zaimovic & Lejla Dedovic & Minela Nuhic Meskovic, 2023. "Mapping Financial Literacy: A Systematic Literature Review of Determinants and Recent Trends," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-30, June.
    2. Oscar A. Stolper & Andreas Walter, 2017. "Financial literacy, financial advice, and financial behavior," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 87(5), pages 581-643, July.
    3. Douissa, Ismail Ben, 2020. "Factors affecting College students’ multidimensional financial literacy in the Middle East," International Review of Economics Education, Elsevier, vol. 35(C).
    4. Trinh Xuan Thi Nguyen & Sumeet Lal & Sulemana Abdul-Salam & Mostafa Saidur Rahim Khan & Yoshihiko Kadoya, 2022. "Financial Literacy, Financial Education, and Cancer Screening Behavior: Evidence from Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-17, April.
    5. Potrich, Ani Caroline Grigion & Vieira, Kelmara Mendes & Kirch, Guilherme, 2018. "How well do women do when it comes to financial literacy? Proposition of an indicator and analysis of gender differences," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 28-41.
    6. Shen, Chung-Hua & Lin, Shih-Jie & Tang, De-Piao & Hsiao, Yu-Jen, 2016. "The relationship between financial disputes and financial literacy," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 46-65.
    7. Yoshihiko Kadoya & Mostafa Saidur Rahim Khan, 2020. "Financial Literacy in Japan: New Evidence Using Financial Knowledge, Behavior, and Attitude," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-15, May.
    8. Ćumurović, Aida & Hyll, Walter, 2016. "Financial Literacy and Self-employment," IWH Discussion Papers 11/2016, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    9. Gilles E. Gignac & Elizabeth Ooi, 2022. "Measurement error in research on financial literacy: How much error is there and how does it influence effect size estimates?," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(2), pages 938-956, June.
    10. Tabea Bucher-Koenen & Annamaria Lusardi & Rob Alessie & Maarten van Rooij, 2017. "How Financially Literate Are Women? An Overview and New Insights," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 255-283, July.
    11. Francisco J. Oliver-Márquez & Almudena Guarnido-Rueda & Ignacio Amate-Fortes, 2021. "Measuring financial knowledge: a macroeconomic perspective," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 177-222, February.
    12. Noemi Oggero & Maria Cristina Rossi & Elisa Ughetto, 2020. "Entrepreneurial spirits in women and men. The role of financial literacy and digital skills," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 313-327, August.
    13. Angelo Baglioni & Luca Colombo & Giulio Piccirilli, 2018. "On the Anatomy of Financial Literacy in Italy," Economic Notes, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA, vol. 47(2-3), pages 245-304, July.
    14. Andreou, Panayiotis C. & Anyfantaki, Sofia, 2021. "Financial literacy and its influence on internet banking behavior," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 39(5), pages 658-674.
    15. Hanson, Thomas A. & Olson, Peter M., 2018. "Financial literacy and family communication patterns," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 64-71.
    16. Li, Xiao, 2020. "When financial literacy meets textual analysis: A conceptual review," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    17. Karen C. Castro-González, 2014. "Financial Literacy And Retirement Planning: Evidence From Puerto Rico," Global Journal of Business Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 8(1), pages 87-98.
    18. J. C. Hauff & A. Carlander & T. Gärling & G. Nicolini, 2020. "Retirement Financial Behaviour: How Important Is Being Financially Literate?," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 543-564, September.
    19. Lin, Chaonan & Hsiao, Yu-Jen & Yeh, Cheng-Yung, 2017. "Financial literacy, financial advisors, and information sources on demand for life insurance," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 218-237.
    20. Panayiotis C. Andreou & Sofia Anyfantaki, 2019. "Financial literacy and its influence on consumers’ internet banking behaviour," Working Papers 275, Bank of Greece.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial knowledge; Measurement scales; Item Response Theory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G53 - Financial Economics - - Household Finance - - - Financial Literacy
    • G40 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - General
    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:beexfi:v:28:y:2020:i:c:s2214635020303324. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-behavioral-and-experimental-finance .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.