Financial Literacy: A Case Study for Portugal

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article studies three questions:

1) the level of financial literacy in Portugal

2) the determinants of financial literacy 

3) impact of financial literacy programs or financial education initiatives 

As a start, the introduction misses the discussion regarding the research gap, the introduction has 3 paragraphs on the importance of financial literacy.

A summary of the main literature review regarding the determinants of financial literacy are non existent in the introduction, nor a summary on the methodology.

The research questions are not well stated.

 

Regarding the literature review, what is financial literacy, it's importance and how it is measured are discussed. But I couldn't detect the discussion regarding the factors or determinants of financial literacy.lines 145 to line 175 discuss financial education and confidence, but are those clearly stated as determinants to be studied?

The literature review fails to develop the hypothesis based on which the author will have result.

Regarding the material and methods, lines 196 till 214, are they from the template? Or is it part of the methodology? If the latter it's irrelevant I think.

The methodology is discussed in a general manner, definitions of tests were presented but were not applied on the sample and not discussed.

Regarding the results, the descriptive statistic is well elaborated but the other part should be improved based on the hypothesis and determinants of financial literacy to be well defined.

 

Author Response

Reviewer 1

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article studies three questions:

1) the level of financial literacy in Portugal

2) the determinants of financial literacy 

3) impact of financial literacy programs or financial education initiatives 

As a start, the introduction misses the discussion regarding the research gap, the introduction has 3 paragraphs on the importance of financial literacy.

A summary of the main literature review regarding the determinants of financial literacy are non existent in the introduction, nor a summary on the methodology.

The research questions are not well stated.

 Done. Text has been added to respond to the request.

 

Regarding the literature review, what is financial literacy, it's importance and how it is measured are discussed. But I couldn't detect the discussion regarding the factors or determinants of financial literacy.lines 145 to line 175 discuss financial education and confidence, but are those clearly stated as determinants to be studied?

We believe that Table 1 answers this question. However, we also have a word limitation. This article is already over 9250 words long.

 

The literature review fails to develop the hypothesis based on which the author will have result.

 Done. Text has been added to respond to the request.

 

Regarding the material and methods, lines 196 till 214, are they from the template? Or is it part of the methodology? If the latter it's irrelevant I think.

Thanks for the repair. We have removed this text.

 

The methodology is discussed in a general manner, definitions of tests were presented but were not applied on the sample and not discussed.

Regarding the results, the descriptive statistic is well elaborated but the other part should be improved based on the hypothesis and determinants of financial literacy to be well defined.

 Done. Text has been added to respond to the request.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

While the manuscript is very timely submission; there are few suggestions to improve it further.

1. The use of "the" in the line no 28 of introduction should be avoided.

2. Authors should try to adopt crisp writing style rather than writing elongated sentences. For instance line no 29 that runs till line no 33.

3. The definition of financial literacy adopted by authors needs better clarity.

4. The authors have not identified the limitations of the research which are very clearly evident when the work is cross-sectional in nature and conducted in an online mode.

5. Methodology section should be handled in a better fashion, for instance, the value of Cronbach alpha for checking the reliability and validity of indices should be mentioned.

6. The conclusions are not establishing the facts which were unknown. The uniqueness of the study must be spelled out.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The English language needs massive improvement in terms of sentence formation and use of Grammar.

Author Response

Reviewer  2

 

 

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

While the manuscript is very timely submission; there are few suggestions to improve it further.

1. The use of "the" in the line no 28 of introduction should be avoided.

Thanks for the repair. We have removed this text.

2. Authors should try to adopt crisp writing style rather than writing elongated sentences. For instance line no 29 that runs till line no 33.

Done.

3. The definition of financial literacy adopted by authors needs better clarity.

Done.

4. The authors have not identified the limitations of the research which are very clearly evident when the work is cross-sectional in nature and conducted in an online mode.

Done.

5. Methodology section should be handled in a better fashion, for instance, the value of Cronbach alpha for checking the reliability and validity of indices should be mentioned.

The value of Cronbach alpha is presented in Table 6.

6. The conclusions are not establishing the facts which were unknown. The uniqueness of the study must be spelled out.

Done. The uniqueness of the study is reflected in the Introduction.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

1.               It is necessary to explain in more detail the relevance of financial literacy with  (1) the perception of their current 19 financial situation; (2) planning and controlling personal finances; (3) the perception of risky finan-20 cial assets; (4) the perception of risk-free financial assets; and (5) savings.

2.               Because the topic of this study is financial literacy in Portugal, then add an explanation of what formal efforts have been made by the Portuguese government in improving financial literacy.

3.               Add the novelty of this research and the extent to which the novelty differs from previous literature reviews and research.

4.               Explain about the level of financial literacy resulting from this study as a whole, total sample, and multi-group based on the demographic profile of respondents used in this study.

5.               Give logical consequences of the findings of this study related to financial literacy and financial inclusion in Portugal. Explain the practical implications.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The English skills written in this paper are good

Author Response

Reviewer  3

 

omments and Suggestions for Authors

1. It is necessary to explain in more detail the relevance of financial literacy with (1) the perception of their current 19 financial situation; (2) planning and controlling personal finances; (3) the perception of risky finan-20 cial assets; (4) the perception of risk-free financial assets; and (5) savings.

Text has been added. We believe we have answered this point.

2. Because the topic of this study is financial literacy in Portugal, then add an explanation of what formal efforts have been made by the Portuguese government in improving financial literacy.

Done.

3. Add the novelty of this research and the extent to which the novelty differs from previous literature reviews and research.

Done.

4. Explain about the level of financial literacy resulting from this study as a whole, total sample, and multi-group based on the demographic profile of respondents used in this study.

  Done.

5. Give logical consequences of the findings of this study related to financial literacy and financial inclusion in Portugal. Explain the practical implications.

   Done.

 

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I have several suggestions. 1) The contribution of the research should be highlighted in the Introduction. How does this study differ from previous works? What are the novelties of this research? 2) I recommend the recently published works by Mawad et al. (2022) and perform regression analysis. The analysis part is not enough. 3) The literature is not updated and several studies are ignored. 4) The robustness checks should be added to verify the results. 5) I recommend adding a new sub-section on policy implications and elaborately discussing the policy implications from aspects of involved stakeholders.

 

Reference: Mawad, J. L., Athari, S. A., Khalife, D., & Mawad, N. (2022). Examining the impact of financial literacy, financial self-control, and demographic determinants on individual financial performance and behavior: An insight from the Lebanese Crisis Period. Sustainability, 14(22), 15129.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

It's good.

Author Response

Reviewer 4

 

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I have several suggestions. 1) The contribution of the research should be highlighted in the Introduction. How does this study differ from previous works? What are the novelties of this research?

Done.

 

2) I recommend the recently published works by Mawad et al. (2022) and perform regression analysis. The analysis part is not enough.

Done.

 3) The literature is not updated and several studies are ignored.

The initial article had 60 scientific articles, 50% of which were from the last 5 years. 7 scientific articles from the last 3 years were accessed, 5 from the current year 2024.

 

4) The robustness checks should be added to verify the results.

This research methodology is presented as in previous studies. Therefore, we believe that it has all the explanatory and robustness tests.

 

 5) I recommend adding a new sub-section on policy implications and elaborately discussing the policy implications from aspects of involved stakeholders.

Done. Text has been added to answer this question.

 

Reference: Mawad, J. L., Athari, S. A., Khalife, D., & Mawad, N. (2022). Examining the impact of financial literacy, financial self-control, and demographic determinants on individual financial performance and behavior: An insight from the Lebanese Crisis Period. Sustainability, 14(22), 15129.

Done.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

As a start, the introduction misses the discussion regarding the research gap, the introduction has 3 paragraphs on the importance of financial literacy.  //  the research gap is still not defined. remove the unnecessary paragraphs.

A summary of the main literature review regarding the determinants of financial literacy are non existent in the introduction, nor a summary on the methodology.  // OK done.

 

The research questions are not well stated.   // NOT DONE

 

 

We believe that Table 1 answers this question. However, we also have a word limitation. This article is already over 9250 words long.   // The literature review discussion should not be formulated in a table, the content of the table should be in text. Remove the unnecessary paragraphs to gain on words. 

The literature review fails to develop the hypothesis based on which the author will have result. Done. Text has been added to respond to the request.  NO they are not done. Where are the hypothesis? 

The methodology is discussed in a general manner, definitions of tests were presented but were not applied on the sample and not discussed.

Regarding the results, the descriptive statistic is well elaborated but the other part should be improved based on the hypothesis and determinants of financial literacy to be well defined. Done. Text has been added to respond to the request.   no changes were made to this section

 

Author Response

Reviewer 1

All changes were made to the paper in green.

As a start, the introduction misses the discussion regarding the research gap, the introduction has 3 paragraphs on the importance of financial literacy.  //  the research gap is still not defined. remove the unnecessary paragraphs. ---- Text has been improved / changed in order to meet the request.

A summary of the main literature review regarding the determinants of financial literacy are non existent in the introduction, nor a summary on the methodology.  // OK done.

 The research questions are not well stated.   // NOT DONE. ## Text has been improved / changed in order to meet the request.

 We believe that Table 1 answers this question. However, we also have a word limitation. This article is already over 9250 words long.   // The literature review discussion should not be formulated in a table, the content of the table should be in text. Remove the unnecessary paragraphs to gain on words. --- Text was improved/changed in order to meet the request.

The literature review fails to develop the hypothesis based on which the author will have result. Done. Text has been added to respond to the request.  NO they are not done. Where are the hypothesis? ----- We changed and added text. We believe this is better.

The methodology is discussed in a general manner, definitions of tests were presented but were not applied on the sample and not discussed.

Regarding the results, the descriptive statistic is well elaborated but the other part should be improved based on the hypothesis and determinants of financial literacy to be well defined. Done. Text has been added to respond to the request.   no changes were made to this section. ---- We changed and added text. We believe this is better.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 4 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The revised version significantly improved. However, some comments were not addressed fully by the authors. 1) Where are the results of comment 2 (regression results)? The authors should add a new Table and report. 2) The robustness check is necessary to control the reliability of the findings. Although you used the prior studies' methods, this does not make the findings to be accurate and avoid any biases. So, I urge adding some tests and checks.

Comments on the Quality of English Language

It's good.

Author Response

All changes were made to the paper in green.

 1) Where are the results of comment 2 (regression results)? The authors should add a new Table and report. 2) The robustness check is necessary to control the reliability of the findings. 

Linear regression and respective verification tests were added to the text. If you understand that a test is missing, please indicate the test that must be carried out. Thanks.

Although you used the prior studies' methods, this does not make the findings to be accurate and avoid any biases. So, I urge adding some tests and checks.

Tests have been added. We believe they are all ok, but if you still think there is a test missing, please let us know which one. Thanks.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 3

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Changes were done.