IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/joreco/v25y2015icp122-129.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Financial literacy and student attitudes to debt: A cross national study examining the influence of gender on personal finance concepts

Author

Listed:
  • Agnew, Steve
  • Harrison, Neil

Abstract

This study found a similar result in samples of university students from England and New Zealand to other countries, that males outperform females on financial literacy quizzes. While males outperformed females on a simple compound interest question in both countries, both genders in New Zealand outperformed their English counterparts on questions relating to credit card interest, income tax rates and a more complex compound interest question. Attitudes to student debt were then compared between the two countries, where it was found that among the English sample, females were less likely to see the future benefits of higher education than their male counterparts. These findings will be of particular interest to those providing products and courses in the personal finance sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Agnew, Steve & Harrison, Neil, 2015. "Financial literacy and student attitudes to debt: A cross national study examining the influence of gender on personal finance concepts," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 122-129.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joreco:v:25:y:2015:i:c:p:122-129
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2015.04.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969698915000491
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jretconser.2015.04.006?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S Mitchelli, 2007. "Financial Literacy and Retirement Preparedness: Evidence and Implications for Financial Education," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 42(1), pages 35-44, January.
    3. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia Mitchell, 2006. "Financial Literacy and Retirement Preparedness: Evidence and Implications for Financial Education Programs," Working Papers wp144, University of Michigan, Michigan Retirement Research Center.
    4. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2017. "How Ordinary Consumers Make Complex Economic Decisions: Financial Literacy and Retirement Readiness," Quarterly Journal of Finance (QJF), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(03), pages 1-31, September.
    5. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2014. "The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(1), pages 5-44, March.
    6. Gary S. Becker, 1994. "Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number beck94-1, March.
    7. Joanne W. Hsu, 2016. "Aging and Strategic Learning: The Impact of Spousal Incentives on Financial Literacy," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(4), pages 1036-1067.
    8. Walker, Ian & Zhu, Yu, 2011. "Differences by degree: Evidence of the net financial rates of return to undergraduate study for England and Wales," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 1177-1186.
    9. Angela Hung & Andrew Parker & Joanne K. Yoong, 2009. "Defining and Measuring Financial Literacy," Working Papers 708, RAND Corporation.
    10. Angela A. Hung & Andrew M. Parker & Joanne K. Yoong, 2009. "Defining and Measuring Financial Literacy," Working Papers WR-708, RAND Corporation.
    11. Harrison, Neil & Agnew, Steve & Serido, Joyce, 2015. "Attitudes to debt among indebted undergraduates: A cross-national exploratory factor analysis," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 62-73.
    12. Raquel Fonseca & Kathleen J. Mullen & Gema Zamarro & Julie Zissimopoulos, 2012. "What Explains the Gender Gap in Financial Literacy? The Role of Household Decision Making," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(1), pages 90-106, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. repec:mth:ijafr8:v:8:y:2018:i:4:p:533-554 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Thomas Meissner & David Albrecht, 2022. "Debt Aversion: Theory and Measurement," Papers 2207.07538, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2022.
    3. 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.
    4. Amaral, Christopher & Kolsarici, Ceren, 2020. "The financial advice puzzle: The role of consumer heterogeneity in the advisor choice," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    5. Mahendru, Mandeep & Sharma, Gagan Deep & Pereira, Vijay & Gupta, Mansi & Mundi, Hardeep Singh, 2022. "Is it all about money honey? Analyzing and mapping financial well-being research and identifying future research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 417-436.
    6. Panayiotis C. Andreou & Sofia Anyfantaki, 2019. "Financial literacy and its influence on consumers’ internet banking behaviour," Working Papers 275, Bank of Greece.
    7. 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.
    8. Rodrigues, Luís Filipe & Oliveira, Abílio & Rodrigues, Helena & Costa, Carlos J., 2019. "Assessing consumer literacy on financial complex products," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 93-104.
    9. Maria C. Pereira & Filipe Coelho, 2020. "Regulatory Focus, Money Attitudes and Financial Literacy: Evidence from Portuguese Young Adults," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(4), pages 615-625, December.
    10. Raquel Fonseca & Simon Lord, 2020. "Canadian Gender Gap in Financial Literacy: Confidence Matters," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 235(4), pages 153-182, December.
    11. Stephen Agnew & Trudi Cameron-Agnew, 2015. "The Influence of Gender and Household Culture on Financial Literacy Knowledge; Attitudes and Behaviour," Journal of Financial Management, Markets and Institutions, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 1, pages 31-50, June.

    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. Kadoya, Yoshihiko & Khan, Mostafa Saidur Rahim, 2020. "What determines financial literacy in Japan?," Journal of Pension Economics and Finance, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(3), pages 353-371, July.
    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. 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.
    4. Raquel Fonseca & Simon Lord, 2020. "Canadian Gender Gap in Financial Literacy: Confidence Matters," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 235(4), pages 153-182, December.
    5. Alfonso Arellano & Noelia Camara & David Tuesta, 2014. "El efecto de la autoconfianza en el conocimiento financiero," Working Papers 1427, BBVA Bank, Economic Research Department.
    6. 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.
    7. Feng, Xiangnan & Lu, Bin & Song, Xinyuan & Ma, Shuang, 2019. "Financial literacy and household finances: A Bayesian two-part latent variable modeling approach," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 119-137.
    8. Annamaria Lusardi & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2014. "The Economic Importance of Financial Literacy: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(1), pages 5-44, March.
    9. Baulkaran, Vishaal, 2022. "Personal bankruptcy and consumer credit delinquency: The case of personal finance education," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    10. Alfonso Arellano & Noelia Camara & David Tuesta, 2014. "The effect of self-confidence on financial literacy," Working Papers 1428, BBVA Bank, Economic Research Department.
    11. Yoshihiko Kadoya & Mostafa Saidur Rahim Khan & Tomomi Hamada & Alvaro Dominguez, 2018. "Financial literacy and anxiety about life in old age: evidence from the USA," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 859-878, September.
    12. Elizabeth Lyon & J. R. Catlin, 2020. "Consumer Misconceptions about Tax Laws: Results from a Survey in the United States," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 43(4), pages 807-828, December.
    13. Asyraf Afthanorhan & Abdullah Al Mamun & Noor Raihani Zainol & Hazimi Foziah & Zainudin Awang, 2020. "Framing the Retirement Planning Behavior Model towards Sustainable Wellbeing among Youth: The Moderating Effect of Public Profiles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-24, October.
    14. Silvia Mariela Méndez-Prado & Vanessa Rodriguez & Kevin Peralta-Rizzo & Patricia Everaert & Martin Valcke, 2023. "An Assessment Tool to Identify the Financial Literacy Level of Financial Education Programs Participants’ Executed by Ecuadorian Financial Institutions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-24, January.
    15. Sundar, B. & Virmani, Vineet, 2013. "Numeracy and Financial Literacy of Forest Dependent Communities Evidence from Andhra Pradesh," IIMA Working Papers WP2013-09-02, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    16. Liu, Bofan & Lu, Bin, 2023. "Can financial literacy be a substitute for financial advisers? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    17. Zaheer Ahmed & Umara Noreen & Suresh A.L. Ramakrishnan & Dewi Fariha Binti Abdullah, 2021. "What explains the investment decision-making behaviour? The role of financial literacy and financial risk tolerance," Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 11(1), pages 1-19.
    18. Margherita Fort & Francesco Manaresi & Serena Trucchi, 2016. "Adult financial literacy and households’ financial assets: the role of bank information policies," Economic Policy, CEPR;CES;MSH, vol. 31(88), pages 743-782.
    19. French, Declan & McKillop, Donal, 2016. "Financial literacy and over-indebtedness in low-income households," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 1-11.
    20. Mohammad G. Nejad & Genevieve O’Connor, 2016. "An intersectional approach to evaluating consumer financial literacy," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 21(4), pages 308-324, December.

    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:joreco:v:25:y:2015:i:c:p:122-129. 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-retailing-and-consumer-services .

    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.