Search Results (513)

Africa has the world’s youngest population, and many young adults rely on informal or temporary employment, making digital financial literacy (DFL) critical for long-term financial resilience and sustainable economic development. In this paper, we present findings from a two-phase mixed-methods study. In Phase 1, we surveyed 300 Rwandans aged 18–32 on financial knowledge, digital skills, and financial behaviors to explore key gaps in DFL. Results show modest financial knowledge and moderate digital literacy, with common budgeting and saving practices but key cybersecurity awareness-practice gaps. Gender and education disparities are also evident. To address the low loan literacy observed in Phase 1 findings, we conceived an AI-enabled mobile money loan literacy chatbot and explored user interactions with the chatbot, along with perceived usability and usefulness in Phase 2. Our findings highlight design considerations for promoting intention to adopt DFL interventions. The study aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 1 (No Poverty), 5 (Gender Equality), 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure), and 10 (Reduced Inequalities). Full article

Financial technologies (Fintech) have rapidly reshaped access to financial services, particularly in developing countries where traditional banking remains limited. This study investigates fintech’s role in advancing financial inclusion by analyzing panel data from 89 developing economies gathered from Global Findex reports (2011–2021), complemented by International Monetary Fund (IMF), UNU-WIDER, and PRIO datasets. We applied a random-effects regression model and GMM, incorporating fintech adoption alongside macroeconomic and institutional variables such as education, governance quality, and trade openness. Our results show that fintech is the most significant driver of financial inclusion, especially in expanding account ownership, with education and institutional quality further enhancing outcomes. Conversely, we show that population growth and income disparities constrain progress, while government expenditure and GDP growth display mixed effects. We also find that fintech reduces transaction costs and barriers, yet its impact depends on digital literacy, infrastructure, and governance. In conclusion, our findings highlight that fintech represents a transformative but unevenly utilized tool, capable of fostering broader economic participation and reducing inequality when paired with supportive policies and institutional frameworks. Full article

Education systems are increasingly expected to integrate sustainability-related competencies within formal curricula; however, practical models for embedding such competencies remain limited. This study examines how financial literacy can be operationalized as a transversal sustainability competence through a public–private partnership (PPP) model implemented in Romania between 2022 and 2025. Adopting a longitudinal single-case study design, the analysis combines program-level indicators with evaluation data across three implementation phases: pilot, structured regional expansion, and national consolidation. The findings indicate that financial literacy can be progressively integrated across disciplines through teacher-mediated approaches supported by continuous professional development, adaptable instructional resources, and balanced governance arrangements. The results further show that scaling occurs through multidimensional processes involving increasing pedagogical depth, sustained teacher engagement, and gradual institutional embedding. In this context, PPPs function as enabling governance mechanisms that facilitate resource mobilization and coordination while preserving pedagogical autonomy. The study contributes to the literature by conceptualizing financial literacy as a sustainability-relevant transversal competence, advancing understanding of ecosystem-based scaling in education, and providing a practice-oriented model for integrating such competencies within formal schooling systems. Full article

Financial literacy is critical for individual well-being and sustainable economic development, yet significant gaps remain among Portuguese young adults. Using a two-phase design, this study combines a diagnostic assessment and multi-criteria decision analysis to identify and prioritise effective financial education strategies. In Phase 1, a diagnostic questionnaire administered to 172 first-year university students revealed pronounced deficiencies in core financial concepts. Only 29.1% correctly answered a question on compound interest, and almost half were unable to understand the concept of inflation. Additionally, 62.8% reported low exposure to financial education during compulsory schooling, and 59.9% strongly agreed that it should be included in the mandatory curriculum, indicating both unmet need and strong receptiveness. Phase 2 employed the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to evaluate five educational alternatives across four criteria. Engagement and motivation (0.32) and knowledge acquisition (0.31) were prioritised over behavioural impact (0.22) and accessibility (0.15). Based on expert assessments weighted by student preferences, in-person courses emerged as the most effective strategy (0.42), substantially outperforming online courses (0.22), videos and digital content (0.14), books (0.13), and games (0.10). The findings point to the need for policy-driven integration of structured, educator-led financial education within formal curricula, supported by approaches that prioritise active engagement and knowledge acquisition over convenience, with digital tools serving as complements rather than replacements. Full article

The rapid expansion of digital assets has transformed contemporary financial systems, yet their role in inheritance planning remains underexplored, particularly in developing economies. Employing a mixed-methods design, this study examines the factors influencing individuals’ acceptance of digital assets as inheritance and explores their perceptions and readiness to adopt such assets within estate planning in Thailand. The quantitative phase analyzes survey data using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression, focusing on investment experience, risk orientation, emotional responses to financial risk, financial capacity, and perceived suitability. The results indicate that investment orientation, discretionary financial capacity, familiarity with diverse digital asset types, and psychological resilience toward financial volatility significantly increase acceptance, with Preferred Investment Group emerging as the strongest predictor. In contrast, anxiety toward high-risk investments reduces acceptance. Qualitative findings, derived from content analysis of in-depth interviews, reveal persistent skepticism regarding asset stability, legal and institutional uncertainty, technological barriers, and subjective valuation. Despite these concerns, participants expressed conditional readiness to adopt digital assets in inheritance planning given clearer legal frameworks, professional guidance, and user-friendly technologies. This study contributes to the emerging literature on digital wealth transfer and offers practical implications for policymakers, financial advisors, and legal professionals seeking to develop regulatory frameworks, financial literacy initiatives, and technological infrastructures that support the secure intergenerational transfer of digital assets. Full article

Out-of-school tutoring, as a form of privatized compensatory education beyond formal schooling, has become increasingly prevalent, yet its role in fostering students’ holistic competencies remains insufficiently examined. Drawing on a student engagement perspective, this study investigates how different types of out-of-school tutoring, including academic, arts, and sports tutoring, are associated with the development of students’ holistic competencies. Data were drawn from a survey of 704 Grade 10 students in central China. Tutoring engagement during junior secondary school was measured using a self-developed Likert-scale instrument, while holistic competencies were obtained from official Comprehensive Quality Assessment records. The findings reveal differentiated effects across tutoring types. Academic tutoring shows no significant association with academic performance or other dimensions of holistic competence. In contrast, sports tutoring is positively associated with physical and mental health, and arts tutoring demonstrates a significant positive relationship with artistic literacy. Regarding engagement characteristics, simply increasing the number of programs or financial investment yields limited benefits. Instead, time investment and cognitive involvement in sports tutoring, as well as affective involvement in arts tutoring, are positively related to specific dimensions of holistic competence. These results suggest that the effectiveness of out-of-school tutoring depends less on participation amount and more on the nature of students’ engagement. The study highlights the uneven developmental returns of compensatory education and calls for a more balanced and development-oriented approach to tutoring participation. Full article

The education systems, financial circumstances, and societal structures of our century expect educators to possess the most important characteristic: the ability to guide students who are highly digitally competent and keep themselves up to date. The “Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 4)” emphasized by the According to the United Nations highlight the necessity of continuously updating teacher competencies for quality and inclusive education. Establishing music teachers’ “digital competencies” on a sustainable basis depends on combining technical skills with a pedagogical vision. Therefore, thoroughly examining music teachers’ digital competencies in light of international standards and the TPAC model is critical to ensuring the sustainability of digital transformation at both the institutional and individual levels. This study, which examines digital literacy as an important part of sustainable education in music education, has examined the digital skills of music teachers in Turkey within the scope of international digital literacy frameworks and the TPAC approach. Digital skills have been related to the status of teachers’ professional practices, teaching-learning processes, assessment approaches, and the support of students’ digital literacy. The research concluded that music teachers’ digital competency levels are at the “explorer” level, meaning they are individuals who are aware of digital technologies and conduct research to develop themselves in this area. Full article

This study investigates the determinants of FinTech adoption and its role in supporting financial inclusion among micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in South Sumatra, Indonesia. The analysis applies an extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) framework that incorporates digital financial literacy, artificial intelligence literacy, green self-identity, and perceived green finance. Data from 632 MSMEs, comprising 377 rural and 255 urban enterprises, were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), multi-group analysis (MGA), and importance performance map analysis (IPMA). The results indicate that facilitating conditions represent the most influential determinant of FinTech adoption among rural MSMEs, while effort expectancy emerges as the dominant factor in urban enterprises. FinTech adoption also significantly strengthens both FinTech continuance intention and financial inclusion across the two groups, highlighting the role of digital financial technologies in promoting inclusive economic development. In addition, the IPMA shows that rural MSMEs place strong emphasis on facilitating conditions as the key driver of FinTech adoption, whereas urban MSMEs prioritize effort expectancy. By extending the UTAUT framework with sustainability-related constructs, this study provides new evidence on how digital financial innovation can support inclusive growth and contribute to Sustainable Development Goal 8. Full article

Despite extensive research on financial literacy and financial decision-making, the scholarly literature remains conceptually fragmented, particularly regarding how behavioral biases mediate or moderate the relationship between knowledge and financial behavior. The existing literature often focuses on financial literacy or behavioral biases in isolation, limiting a systematic understanding of their interaction. This study addresses this gap by conducting a bibliometric analysis of research at the intersection of financial literacy, behavioral finance, and decision-making. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we analyzed 267 peer-reviewed publications indexed in Web of Science and Scopus over the period 2010–2025 using the Bibliometrix 5.2.1 R package and VOSviewer 1.6.20 for co-occurrence, thematic clustering, and trend analysis. The results identify three interconnected research clusters: (i) socio-demographic and educational determinants of financial literacy, (ii) cognitive and behavioral biases influencing financial decision processes, and (iii) applied investment decision contexts. Overconfidence and herding dominate the literature, whereas biases such as framing, mental accounting, and intertemporal inconsistency remain comparatively underexplored. The analysis further reveals a post-2022 surge in publications, increasing internationalization, and emerging integration of digital finance and artificial intelligence themes. By systematically mapping the intellectual structure of this research domain, this study clarifies theoretical fragmentation, identifies under-researched behavioral mechanisms, and provides an evidence-based framework to guide future interdisciplinary and policy-relevant research on how financial literacy translates into financial behavior. Full article

This study offers an integrative and systematic examination of the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic, digital payment systems, and financial inclusion. To achieve this, it adopts a dual methodological approach that combines a PRISMA 2020-based systematic literature review with bibliometric analysis. The analysis covers a set of peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2020 and 2025, using bibliometric mapping to explore the conceptual structure of the field, its main thematic clusters, and its temporal evolution. The findings indicate that COVID-19 acted as an external shock that accelerated the adoption of digital payment technologies. However, this acceleration did not automatically or uniformly lead to sustainable financial inclusion. Instead, digital payments emerge in the literature as an intermediate pathway linking the pandemic to financial inclusion outcomes under specific conditions. The strength and direction of this process depend on factors such as structural readiness, regulatory quality, digital infrastructure, levels of trust, and financial and digital literacy. Bibliometric results reveal strong conceptual convergence around three core themes—COVID-19, Digital Payments, and Financial Inclusion—forming a cohesive knowledge structure. Over time, the literature progresses from describing the crisis itself, to analyzing digital operational responses and finally to assessing longer-term inclusion and development outcomes. Overall, the study clarifies the interactive nature of the digital payments–financial inclusion nexus and proposes an integrative interpretive framework that can guide future research and support the design of more inclusive and resilient digital financial policies in post-crisis contexts. Full article

The rapid spread of misinformation on social media has emerged as a major societal issue. Over 40% of British social media news-sharers admitted they had shared inaccurate or fake news. The extensive distribution of false information causes public trust deterioration while modifying public opinions and potentially destabilizing social and political systems. There are profound challenges due to this hard-to-detect, hard-to-stop reality and the financials and societal implications are remarkable. As an attempt to limit the challenges created from misinformation this paper introduces some preliminary work on detection of fake news and verification of their reliability based on online content. Large language models (LLMs) are being used along with natural language processing (NLP) techniques to evaluate news articles through their linguistic and contextual characteristics. Several models are compared on how they can typically identify typical indicators of misinformation through the analysis of extensive verified datasets to develop an ability to classify content as authentic or fabricated. This work has been through thorough testing to determine its operational effectiveness and dependability after completion. We present a relatively easy-to-use tool which enables a wide range of people also for those without a background in computer science to easily verify news accuracy before sharing or trusting it. This work could help to stop false information from spreading while promoting fact-based discussions and improving digital literacy skills. The research demonstrates how technology fights the fake news crisis to create an informed digital environment which supports public conversation protection and information integrity in the modern digital age. Full article

Banks around the globe are rapidly progressing towards the adoption of digital currency. However, its adoption rate has been consistently low among both emerging and advanced economies. This study examines the user adoption of the Indian digital currency, the e-Rupee, based on a primary survey conducted between July 2025 and September 2025 of 751 respondents. The study adopted a blend of TAM and nudge theory for the first time in the digital currency domain, using the stated preference method in finance literature to understand the willingness to shift to the e-Rupee in India. Using binary logit regression, we test two hypotheses. The results show that apart from socioeconomic predictors, adoption of the e-Rupee is significantly influenced by digital financial literacy. With respect to the willingness to shift to the e-Rupee, the study found TAM constructs like perceived convenience and perceived belief in the study as the key predictors. Unlike the current literature, our study finds that trust is not a significant predictor of e-Rupee adoption. This highlights the credibility of the central bank of the country and the future growth of its digital currency. The findings highlight the importance of digital financial literacy and behavioral intentions, rather than technical viability, as the key factors in digital currency adoption in India. Full article

This study examines the relationship between university students’ financial literacy and their social entrepreneurship tendencies, using a convenience sample of 245 students from a single public university in Turkey. Two previously validated scales were employed, and reliability analyses indicated high internal consistency (α = 0.828–0.936). Regression analyses indicate that financial literacy partially and statistically significantly explains social entrepreneurship tendencies, although the effect size is modest (R² = 0.016), suggesting that additional individual, social, and contextual factors likely play a larger role. Sub-dimension analyses indicate that financial literacy is significantly associated with Financial Return, Sustainability, and Social Networks (p < 0.05; p < 0.01), while associations with Social Vision and Innovation were not statistically significant, reflecting its partial contribution to social entrepreneurship tendencies. Demographic comparisons indicate significant differences based on gender, academic level, academic achievement, parental education, and the presence of an entrepreneur in the family (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that financial literacy can support socially responsible entrepreneurial tendencies, while acknowledging that the observed effects are modest and the sample is limited to a single university. The study emphasizes the importance of integrating financial literacy and entrepreneurship education into higher education curricula, while clearly acknowledging the study’s methodological limitations and the small magnitude of observed effects. Full article

Illegal artisanal and small-scale mining (galamsey) and climate stress jointly degrade ecosystems and livelihoods in Ghana. This paper demonstrates how community-driven governance can realign incentives toward environmental stewardship and inclusive livelihoods. Using an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design—quantitative difference-in-differences followed by qualitative case analysis and Participatory Action Research—we evaluate a structured program combining vocational training, financial literacy, environmental stewardship, and governance alignment. We operationalize Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) outcomes via transparent composite indices and triangulate survey, administrative, and focus group evidence. The study identifies conditions under which alternative livelihoods reduce participation in illegal mining, strengthen women’s economic agency, and improve adoption of climate-smart practices. Implications include practical guidance for program design (community delivery, matched incentives, oversight), policy (local climate finance and accountability mechanisms), and research (scalable indicators and rigorous impact evaluation in resource-dependent communities). Full article

Financial literacy represents a fundamental competence in contemporary knowledge-based economies, particularly in the context of increasingly complex corporate financing instruments. Insufficient financial literacy may lead to suboptimal debt decisions, inefficient capital structures, and heightened financial vulnerability of firms. The aim of this paper is to assess the level of financial literacy of university students in the field of corporate debt financing and to identify key determinants influencing the correctness of their responses. The empirical analysis is based on a quantitative questionnaire survey conducted among university students in the Slovak Republic (n = 403) using a convenience sampling approach. The questionnaire included 16 knowledge-based items focused on debt financing instruments, interest mechanisms, leasing, bonds, and alternative sources of financing. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and inferential methods, primarily Pearson’s χ² test of independence and Cramer’s V. The results reveal considerable variability in students’ performance across thematic areas. Higher success rates were observed for basic concepts of debt financing and traditional bank products, while lower performance was recorded for analytically demanding tasks, particularly those related to interest rate comparisons, capital market instruments, and alternative financing forms. Field of study emerged as the most significant determinant of financial literacy, followed by the level of study, whereas gender and region showed only marginal effects. The findings highlight the need to strengthen application-oriented financial education in higher education, with a stronger focus on practical aspects of corporate debt financing. Full article