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South Africans, like many people worldwide, need to save more and spend less. The question arises why people do not save enough for their retirement and other financial needs. In this exploratory study, age, gender and the amount of pocket money that learners receive were evaluated to determine their impact on the level of learners’ financial literacy. The author concluded that of the three variables evaluated, only age has a significant effect on the level of learners’ financial literacy.

This research aims to determine the factors that can affect financial literacy in Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), especially regarding loans and budgeting. Data are obtained using a survey of owners or managers of MSMEs, which is then processed using multiple regression. This research contributes toward a deeper understanding of MSMEs’ financial literacy determinants, specifically regarding loans and budgeting, in a pandemic situation that differs from ordinary circumstances and encourages many financial activities to utilize technology. The research results indicate the role of Financial Education, Money Attitude, and Financial Socialization Agents in determining MSMEs’ financial knowledge and skills regarding loans and budgets.

The purpose of this paper is to shed light on the changing pattern and characteristics of international financial flows in the emerging entrepreneurial ecosystems of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), provide a novel taxonomy to classify and analyze them, and discuss how such investments contribute to competence building and sustainable development.

In an exploratory study, the authors analyze the characteristics of international venture capital investors and the start-ups receiving funding in Kenya and map their interaction. The authors proceed by developing a novel taxonomy, classifying investors according to their main rationales (for-profit-for-impact), and start-ups according to the locus of needs and markets addressed by the start-up (local-global) and the locus of the start-ups capacity and knowledge (local-global).

The authors observe a new type of mainly western investors who support innovative ideas in SSA by identifying and investing in domestically developed technical innovations with the potential to address global market needs. The authors find such innovations to be mainly developed at the intersect of global and local knowledge.

The authors shed light on the – up to now – under-researched emerging phenomenon of international high-tech investments in SSA, and develop a novel taxonomy of technology investments in low-income countries, guiding further research on the conditions, impact, practical, and policy implications of this new form of finance flows.

Using exploratory research, this study analysed some of the factors that have an impact on the level of financial literacy of undergraduate students studying to become chartered accountants. The study utilised an internationally developed instrument to measure financial literacy. It investigated whether some of the factors that were identified in international studies also influence the financial literacy levels of chartered accountant students in South Africa. In line with previous international studies, the study concluded that gender, age, language, race and income levels do have an impact on the level of financial literacy. This information should enable chartered accountant firms to identify trainee accountants who might require special training in the field of financial literacy.

The purpose of this paper is to provide further understanding of the financial capability of mutual fund investors, and compare internet and branch office investors. It seeks to examine mutual fund investors' abilities and awareness of the terms and risks of mutual fund investments using a novel measurement instrument.

Ability measurement techniques adapted from educational and psychological studies were applied in the paper. Empirical survey data were collected in Finland.

There were differences between different types of investors in terms of financial knowledge. The channel used by the investors in making investments differentiated the more knowledgeable internet investors from the less knowledgeable branch office investors.

The subjects of the study are the clients of a mutual fund company. Future research could concentrate on examining the consequences of financial knowledge. One interesting question is how the consumers understand their personal financial capability and its role in their lives.

The measures and indicators of financial capability are important evaluative instruments for banks and financial corporations as well as for the authorities involved in evaluating investors' financial behaviour.

The ability measurement technique adapted from education and psychological research proved to be applicable in the field of financial capability measurement.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of individual components of financial literacy in promoting financial inclusion of poor households in rural Uganda.

The study was cross-sectional combined with correlation and regression analyses. Data were collected from 400 poor households drawn from four regions in rural Uganda. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test for the contribution of individual components of financial literacy on financial inclusion of poor households in rural Uganda. In addition, confirmatory factor analysis was used to establish existence of convergent validity between the items used to measure the different constructs under study. Furthermore, analysis of variance was also adopted to test for variation in perceptions of poor households on being financially included.

The results generated from the study revealed that only attitude as a component of financial literacy significantly and positively predicts financial inclusion of poor households in rural Uganda. Contrary to previous thinking and empirical studies, behavior, knowledge, and skills are not significant predictors of financial inclusion of poor households in rural Uganda. Overall, the combined effect of the different components of financial literacy explains about 11.2 percent of the variance in financial inclusion of poor households in rural Uganda.

The study was not without limitations. The study adopted only cross-sectional study design, thus, leaving out longitudinal study. Therefore, future studies employing longitudinal research design worth undertaking. Furthermore, the sample although large enough focused only on poor households located in rural Uganda, therefore, ignoring peri-urban and urban areas in Uganda. Besides, the study used only quantitative data, thus, qualitative study using key informant interviews may be considered for further research.

The paper indicates that policy makers, advocates of financial inclusion and researchers, should reconsider investigating individual contribution of the different components of financial literacy in promoting financial inclusion of poor households in rural Uganda. For researchers, it is important to re-analyze the individual components of financial literacy of behavior, knowledge, skills, and attitude in influencing financial inclusion of poor households in rural Uganda.

This paper combines both functional components (behavior and attitude) and non-functional measures (knowledge and skills) of financial literacy to explain financial inclusion of poor households in rural Uganda. Most financial literacy studies have mainly adopted only non-functional measures of knowledge and skills. Besides, these studies ignore the individual contribution of functional components and non-functional measures of financial literacy in explaining financial inclusion of poor households. Thus, this study is the first to examine the impact of individual components of financial literacy in explaining financial inclusion of poor households in rural Uganda.

Emerging literature on fintech has shown that consumers have been slow to adopt fintech-based products and services. However, limited literature is available regarding the factors associated with consumers' adoption of these products and services. This study aims to investigate the factors that are associated with consumer adoption of fintech-based products and services.

Data on the usage and perception of smartphone financial apps by US residents ages 18–70 was collected in the fall of 2020. Based on the Extended Post-Acceptance Model (EPAM) framework, Structural Equation Modeling and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were applied to inspect how financial capability, perceived security and perceived usefulness affect fintech adoption.

Fintech proficiency, investment risk tolerance and perceived safety are positively associated with the frequency of fintech application use upon adoption. Consumers are more likely to feel safer if they are more financially capable and technologically proficient. Consumers with higher risk tolerance tend to believe fintech apps are safe to use. Consumers with higher fintech proficiency are more likely to recognize the usefulness of fintech services.

The study introduces a revised EPAM framework with antecedent factors, fintech proficiency and risk tolerance to investigate the factors associated with consumer adoption of fintech-based products and services. The key findings of this study validate the EPAM in the American context. Additionally, this research is among the first to have confirmed the direct relationship between perceived security and fintech adoption. The results have practical implications for existing fintech companies, banks and financial institutions, policymakers and financial advisory practices considering adopting fintech-based services for their clients.

While financial organisations and systems are becoming global, there still seems to be some country-based differences explained mainly by social dynamics of power and distribution of resources. The purpose of this paper is to analyse practices of a wide variety of financial organisations in two very different social environments, namely, the UK and Chile, with special focus on recruitment and promotion procedures and work under the industry.

From 41 in-depth interviews with practitioners in London, Edinburgh and Santiago de Chile and participant observation of recruitment practices, it was possible to analyse the practices of financial organisations, emphasising on the way they interact with people in global markets and local fields. Interviews and observation were designed to understand organisational procedures in the life course of a set of people working in financial firms and related institutions.

The paper argues for a field approach since Chile’s peripheral position in global markets and its elite-concentrated local distribution of resources encourage more traditional organisational practices, especially in terms of recruitment, socialisation and staff allocation, while in the UK, organisational processes are more technically designed and competitive, as part of a different field, the one of the main centres of financial activities.

Although organisations are accessed via their workers and not studied directly, the design of the interviews and the findings allow understanding how financial work is structured by organisational procedures.

The paper contributes to highlight the role played by organisational procedures and how policies oriented to decrease inequality should take them into account.

It contributes to understanding how inequality is based on organisational practices which are, at the same time, grounded in inequal social structures.

Very few studies have compared, from an in-depth and qualitative perspective, the way organisational procedures are constituted in two very different countries. It covers a wide variety of organisations types and financial products and services. It also tries to make a contribution bridging the current economic sociology literature and organisational studies. Very few articles have also performed systematic fieldwork in two very different countries.

The financially excluded are often denied basic financial services from mainstream banking institutions, leading them to high-cost fringe finance institutions (FFIs) such as payday loan companies and pawnshops. While strategies to address financial exclusion often include financial capabilities education, there does not appear to be evidence suggesting such education is an appropriate solution. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between financial capability and financial exclusion with survey data collected from the Canadian city of Kamloops located in the southern interior of British Columbia.

This exploratory research addresses the objective with survey data collected on the banking habits and financial capability levels of fringe finance users in a Canadian city.

The results imply that fringe finance users do not have lower levels of financial capability than those who do not use fringe finance, when education and income are controlled.

Limitations include the relatively small survey sample of 105 people in one urban center in Canada.

While financial literacy is acknowledged to be an important life skill for all members of society, there is no conclusive evidence suggesting it is a solution to financial exclusion. This is the first research to examine the relationship between financial exclusion and fringe finance use in Canada by collecting data on fringe finance users with face-to-face interviews.

The research paper analyzes the connection between financial literacy among several target audiences and the dynamics of domestic economic activity within the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania). Considerable attention is also paid to literature about financial literacy and domestic economic activity in a historical, crisis-ridden, and neoliberal perspective. By examining the relationship of financial literacy and domestic economic activity, a model based on the results of fuzzy Delphi method and an author-designed limited Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/International Network on Financial Education core survey was carried out in the Baltic States by the author and has been elaborated and examined, concluding, that the relationship is weak, but trends that have been identified are clearly recognizable throughout iterations.

The lack of promotion and implementation of institutionalized targeted financial literacy activities in the Baltic States partially explains a positive association between financial knowledge and consumption behavior, although survey results show levels of financial literacy above 74% throughout the Baltics. The development and analysis of the model has been successful as well, even though the results are statistically only partially significant. The analysis of the model still is important in illuminating the most important factors that influence domestic economic activity in the Baltic States and the relations with key financial literacy indicators. Overall, the research paper encourages further analysis to be carried out in the Baltic States in order to assess the levels of financial literacy over time, as well as to perform an in-depth domestic economic activity analysis so as to develop a toolset for academics as well as policy makers.