When children teach fintech: reverse fintech socialization and digital immigrant mothers’ fintech self-efficacy

The Indian fintech market is fast growing and has one of the highest fintech adoption rates in the world. The new normal created by the COVID-19 pandemic also demands faster adoption of digital tools in everyday finance. This makes digital financial inclusion imperative to stay competent and achieve financial well-being. Reverse socialization - the process by which children influence and transform their parents’ attitudes and behaviors - is one way this can be achieved, as Gen Z has greater expertise in fintech products compared to their parents. Using data from 312 pairs of teenaged children and their less-educated mothers from the state of Kerala, India, this study investigated the impact of reverse fintech socialization on the confidence of parents to participate in the digital financial market. Findings revealed that the confidence of mothers to deal with digital financial products and services is positively influenced by the level of reverse fintech socialization. The study also established that the teenagers who have experienced better maternal financial socialization during their childhood tend to play a highly significant role in educating their mothers in using technology-based financial services when these mothers have positive attitudes towards fintech and trust in their children. To sum up, reverse fintech socialization is an efficient tool to keep the less educated parents capable of utilizing fintech services with confidence so that they can practice desirable financial behaviors and the fintech service providers can improve their network and volume of business.