Digital financial knowledge, insights from private-sector employees in Sikkim

A fundamental understanding of digital financial knowledge has become crucial in today's digital age. The government and financial institutions actively promote digital financial literacy to address this need. In India, initiatives like the Digital Financial Literacy Campaign (DFLC) and the National Financial Literacy Mission (NFLM) aim to educate individuals on digital financial tools. The current study contributes to the accessible literature on digital finance by developing a reliable and validated measure of digital financial knowledge. The survey is based on a sample of 103 private-sector employees employed in various organized private sectors in the state of Sikkim. The study is based on a survey method using a self-developed structured questionnaire to assess the digital financial knowledge of the participants. The findings highlight the important factors that contribute to using digital financial services among the participants. This study significantly impacts both academic and practical fields of digital finance by identifying key factors of digital financial knowledge through Exploratory Factor Analysis. Five factors were identified: (1) Familiarity with Digital Financial Platforms (variance explained: 29.993%), (2) Digital Financial Proficiency (variance explained: 13.87%), (3) Digital Payment Security Awareness (variance explained: 8.757%), (4) Digital Frauds and Security Measures (variance explained: 8.439%), and (5) Online Fraud Reporting (variance explained: 8.114%). These factors encompass variables ranging from digital device proficiency and knowledge of digital transactions to awareness of cybersecurity risks and online fraud reporting. The study develops a reliable measure of digital financial knowledge that is beneficial for future research and practical applications.