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Financial Literacy

This document analyzes factors that influence the financial literacy of college students in Malaysia. It studies the relationship between financial literacy and three independent variables: education, financial socialization agents, and money attitude. A survey was conducted of 105 Malaysian college students. The results found a significant relationship between education and money attitude with financial literacy, but no relationship with financial socialization agents. The study aims to understand how these factors affect the financial literacy of young adults in order to increase literacy and encourage better financial decision making.

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
143 views10 pages

Financial Literacy

This document analyzes factors that influence the financial literacy of college students in Malaysia. It studies the relationship between financial literacy and three independent variables: education, financial socialization agents, and money attitude. A survey was conducted of 105 Malaysian college students. The results found a significant relationship between education and money attitude with financial literacy, but no relationship with financial socialization agents. The study aims to understand how these factors affect the financial literacy of young adults in order to increase literacy and encourage better financial decision making.

Uploaded by

Behrooz
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
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http://ijba.sciedupress.com International Journal of Business Administration Vol. 6, No.

3; 2015

Determinants of the Financial Literacy among College Students in


Malaysia
Muhammad I. Albeerdy1 & Behrooz Gharleghi1,2
1
Faculty of Business and Management, Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation, Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
2
Centre of Socio-Economics of Ageing (CSEA), Asia Pacific University of Technology and Innovation, Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia
Correspondence: Behrooz Gharleghi, PhD., Faculty of Business and Management, Asia Pacific University of
Technology and Innovation, TPM, 57000, Bukit Jail, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tel: 60-19-615-3515. E-mail:
[email protected]

Received: February 23, 2015 Accepted: March 26, 2015 Online Published: April 20, 2015
doi:10.5430/ijba.v6n3p15 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5430/ijba.v6n3p15

Abstract
Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors influencing the financial literacy among university
students in Malaysia.
Methods: Data for this study was collected through self-administered questionnaire and distributed through
convenient sampling method. A total of 105 completed and usable questionnaires have been collected. Pearson
Correlation analysis and multiple regression tables were used to determine the interrelation of different variables in
financial literacy.
Results: Empirical results show that there is a significant relationship between independent variables of education,
and money attitude towards the dependent variable of financial literacy, while there found no relationship between
financial socialization agents and financial literacy.
Conclusions: This study is important so as to understand how these independent variables affect the literacy rate of
young adults. Efforts may be put to strengthen those variables in order increase the literacy rates of those university
students.
Keywords: education, financial socialization agents, money attitude, financial literacy
1. Introduction
Financial literacy was defined by Noctor, Stoney and Stradling (1992) as ‘the ability to make informed judgements
and to take effective decisions regarding the use and management of money’. Being financially literate would mean
that an individual would benefit from a palette of abilities and attitudes such as a comprehension of money
management concept, knowledge of financial institutions and attitudes which enable effective and responsible
management of financial affairs. These benefits was previously identified by Schagen and Lines (1996, p. 91).
Moreover, students are poised to have a spending behaviour similar to their family, thus one of the financial
socialization agents. They grow up in a certain environment depending on the family background where they have
this benchmark set by their parents. They will be automatically influenced by how their respective parents manage
and spend their money as they will grow up with the same culture and principle. The degree of financial literacy of
the family will eventually have an impact on the student at an early stage and it is up to the family to foster this
literacy to their underlings. Another motivator of financial literacy of students will be the attitude towards money.
This factor will differentiate each students corresponding to the degree they deem money to be important. Individuals
will want to be financially literate depending on how much they value money.
Malaysia College students became a lucrative consumer market segment as the number of students enrolled in
tertiary education tripled between 1999 and 2005. As the standard of living in Malaysia has improved significantly
and stimulated changing lifestyles, college students today are granted greater freedom from their parents to make
their own shopping and consumption decisions (Kamaruddin & Mokhlis, 2003). Based on this finding, the student

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must have an adequate financial knowledge in order to make the best possible decisions financially or if not, this will
result in a conspicuous consumption and will further lead to poor financial management. Poor financial management
can affect student's academic performance, mental and physical well-being, and even the ability to find employment
after graduation (Bodvarsson and Walker, 2004 and Lyons, 2004).
If individuals are to navigate the current financial landscape, there is an increasing need for financial knowledge and at
minimum basic financial skills (Morris 2001). Report and evidences show that financially educated society enables
individual to better make financial decisions. With the students being more prone to make financial decisions, there are
more risks for them to make a bad call and abysmal decisions may be taken. To reduce the risk of poor decision making
financial education and awareness becomes pivotal (Widdowson & Hailwood 2007). Students must be sensitized in
such a way that they receive proper education towards financial management in order for them to get a grasp on their
spending behaviour and habits for the future. Educational institutes has for aim to properly shape an individual so that
he/she can adapt and survive in the real world and why is these institutes not the first body to consider when there is a
need for the students to be financially literate.
Beutler and Dickson (2008) stated that failure to adequately socialize young people for adult financial roles is costly
at both individual and societal levels. “When they turn 18, we give young adults the full rights to make contracts,
obtain loans, secure housing, work full time and fight for their country. Underpinning all of these very adult
responsibilities are financial choices. Yet far too few of these young people are ever taught to manage money.
Financial socialization theory says that “socialization takes place through interaction of the person and various agents
in specific social settings” (McLeod & O’Keefe, 1972, p.135). People who interacts within a social setting is called
the socialization agents and these agents may have an influence on the spending behaviour and management of an
individual. A primary assumption inherent in the socialization perspective is that to understand how consumers shape
their knowledge and behaviour, it is important to specify the influence of socialization agents and to examine the
processes by which consumers acquire such knowledge and behaviour (Churchill & Moschis, 1979). Because the
Malaysian consumer market has changed considerably, the role of parents for monitoring their children's
consumption habits has become more critical and parents’ characteristics may also be related to the development of
their children's financial knowledge and behaviour (Clarke, Heaton, Israelsen, & Egget, 2009).
In today's generation, youngsters tend to value money more than compared to previous generations whereby older
generations were not interested in the materialistic world as the younger generations nowadays. However, the attitude
an individual has over money will eventually affect his/her literacy and behaviour towards finance. People who view
money as just a measure to obtain their immediate wants will never be able to have a proper financial planning for
the future which is the main problem in this modern era. Thus, individuals having the right attitude and mind-set
towards money will be more prone in an early financial planning and savings. This will hinder their chances of going
bankrupt or fail to enjoy the benefits of an early financial savings.
The utmost concern should be raised concerning the financial literacy among students as it eventually will affect
one's welfare, especially in their later stages of life when they reach retirement during which they should be
benefiting from financial planning and savings. Moreover, financially illiterate individuals tend to adopt
welfare-reducing decisions such as keeping large outstanding debts on credit cards when they have cheaper
alternatives which they fail to know due to their lack of knowledge.
Based on the discussion above, this paper has three objectives to be achieved using techniques that will be introduced
afterwards;
Objective no 1: To identify whether there is any effect from education towards financial literacy among college
students in Malaysia.
Objective no 2: To identify whether there is any effect from financial socialization agents towards financial literacy
among college students in Malaysia.
Objective no 3: To identify whether there is any effect from money attitudes towards financial literacy among college
students in Malaysia.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Education towards Financial Literacy
‘Financial literacy is both an important life skill and a critical intellectual competency' and 'an essential component
of a college degree’. (Kezar and Yang, 2010:15). It is only logical that students must be educated at one point of their
life on how to act on spending the money they will obtain at a later stage of life and where else to educate them if not

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in college. As per the US National Jumpstart Coalition survey in 2006, students who attended high school personal
finance course were poised to do better on the national standardised financial literacy test than those who did not
attend those courses. These statistics might be encouraging for the United States as it shows that education can play a
part for students in understanding how to effectively use their monetary resources. As these projects were then made
in foreign countries, Malaysia must also take the leap to provide financial course to their students so as to enjoy the
advantages of having a financially literate younger generation.
Also Staten, Elliehausen, and Lindquist (2002) reports that students who were enrolled in credit counselling were
able to reduce their debts and they even have a better grasp on their credit card management which allow them to
further reduce their debts. As we all know, without informing students about the possible outcomes of using credit
cards, they will use this source without taking into account the amount of debts they can accumulate. Hence, it is the
duty of educational institute to intervene and counsels these youngsters about how to properly use credit cards and
inform them about debts they may obtain.
Logically there is the argument that personal finance should be part of basic education of all students (Mandell 2008;
2009), and most developed nations have adopted or aim to mandate financial education as part of the
kindergarten-year 12 curriculum (OECD 2005). This promotes the importance of education towards an early age so
that the students will have a better shape of education knowledge and management in the future. Additional research
that has focused on youth and financial literacy education has also provided evidence that formal courses in personal
finance can increase financial knowledge, and often result in more positive financial behaviour. Therefore, it enables
students to have a better behaviour as a consumer in the future when they are faced with choices from different
product and services.
Lawmakers had no way of knowing in 2007 that the U.S economic situation would be where it is today, making
financial education for students now even more crucial than at any other time in recent history. Lawmakers did not
predict the consequences of lack of financial education can have on financial literacy of the country and now they
understand how crucial it is to provide financial education in order to avoid the same mistake again.
2.2 Financial Socialization Agents towards Financial Literacy
Financial socialization is a process by which individuals acquire from the environment those skills, knowledge, and
attitudes that are necessary to maximize their consumer role in the financial marketplace (Ward, 1974). The main
agents for student’s socialization are peer groups, family, schools and media and all of them occur at one point of
time throughout an individual's life cycle. The following discussion will relate to how these financial socialization
agents (i.e., peer groups, family and media) have an influence on financial literacy among students.
In a study conducted by Churchill and Moschis (1979), it is reported that family interaction about financial
management declines over age and that peer communication about financial matters increases with age. This report
highlights the importance of these two agents over a particular period of an individual. The family is credited with
being a major source of children’s socialization; children through observing their parents, participating in financial
practices, and receiving direct instruction (Beutler & Dickson, 2008; Pinto, Parent, & Mansfield, 2005). A student's
family will always be his/her first shelter and role model. Parents influence their children overtly and cognitively
through direct teaching, reinforcement and purposive modelling (Moschis, 1987). Children have already acquired
knowledge, attitudes, and motives on most subjects that might be included in education about the consumer role
before coming into the classroom. This is to show that family, especially parents, have a huge impact on the financial
behaviour and literacy of an individual. The degree of education towards finance of a parent will automatically be
inculcated to their children and the children will inevitably try and reciprocate this behaviour. Children learn
financial management behaviour through observations and participation (incidental learning) and through intentional
instruction by socialization agents (Danes & Dunrud, 1993; Moschis, 1987; Rettig & Mortenson, 1986). If the
parents are responsible enough to inculcate their values of financial knowledge to their child, the latter will be
financially literate even before going to school attending financial literacy curriculums.
In a study conducted by Buijzen & Valkenburg (2003), it was reported that 33% of college and high schools students
use media or internet as a mean to seek financial knowledge. Research has shown that the amount of television
viewed is positively related to adolescents’ purchase requests, brand recognition, materialistic attitudes, and financial
behaviours. By analysing the study, we find that students think that the media is a medium for them to become
financially literate. They do not abide by the conventional ways of learning money management from schools; on the
other hand, they trust the media (i.e., television, internet, advertisements, and newspaper) on how to spend their
money.

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Previous research has emphasized that parents, peers, printed media, television commercials, and in – school
education are the most important agents of consumer socialization (Chan & McNeal, 2006). Hence, it can be
considered that childhood consumer experience, personal and family background and student characteristics may
have an important role on financial literacy as an outcome among students in Malaysia.
2.3 Money Attitude towards Financial Literacy
Money is an important issue for people, not only as a utilitarian commodity but also as an emotional representation
of worth or through symbolic meanings (Engelberg & Sjoberg, 2006). Furthermore, money has been recognized as a
powerful motivator of behaviour (e.g., as a force leading to productivity in organizations), as well as a factor that
shapes job satisfaction and stress. This is to say that your attitude towards money may shape your knowledge
financially. How someone value money will eventually have an impact on his/her literacy financially. One's thought
about money will as a result influence his/her ability on money management. Consequently, having a positive
attitude towards money will influence someone to have a more financial understanding and literacy whereas a
negative attitude will lead to poor management, knowledge and financial ruin. In a study among college students,
Edwards et. al (2007) highlights that money attitude is related to children being open about their financial situation
with their parents. By having a positive attitude towards money, students will feel concern about their current
situation and they will want to know how to successfully manage the finance in order to remain stable. They will
have a proper interaction about financial matters with their parents.
Specific money attitudes were related to self-direction and security values, implying that those attitudes likely
interact with a self-directed behaviour for security such as financial knowledge seeking (Burgess, 2005). It all
depends on how the students value money or financial security in order for them to seek knowledge about how to
manage their savings and spending. This may trigger the need for youngsters to acquire skills required for having a
better ability in terms of financial behaviour and literacy.
Moreover, in this modern society, religious and moral values are becoming less important and the world is turning
into a more materialistic importance whereby youngsters are more concerned with earning money rather than
believing in conventional beliefs of their forefathers. Thus, money is an important aspect of one’s life nowadays and
this may act as motivation for students in order to become more financially literate than previous generations. Kim
(2003) later identified money as a tool of safety which triggers the motivation for a better money management in the
future. Everyone wants to be safe financially and without being properly literate financially, it would be a waste of
time.
Kidwell and Turrisi (2004) researched on the budgeting tendencies of students and found that those students who
were highly confident about their skill to keep a budget were likely to justify reasons for budget. These students
perceive money as “normative expectancies”. Contrarily, those students who had lower perceived control over their
budget relied on their emotional feelings towards budgeting, rather than their cognitive beliefs about budgeting. As
we can see, it will depend on how the student perceives money in order for them to be able to set an appropriate
budget for themselves. If an individual value money and know that this is one of the most important assets he/she can
possess, then they will do their maximum to maintain a particular budget in order to smoothen their expenses.
Relying on emotional feelings for keeping a record of one’s budget is fruitless as it will result only into failure in
maintaining a good record of one’s transactions.
2.4 Financial Literacy
Financial literacy can be generally defined as a person’s ability to understand, analyse, manage, and communicate
personal finance matters (Vitt et al., 2000). Financial literacy is when an individual have the ability and skills to have
a proper knowledge about financial matters. Low level of financial literacy may lead to bad financial decision
making and this may result into many problems such as debts or even bankruptcy. This often results in financial
behaviours varying greatly from recommended guidelines, which, in turn, contributes to low levels of financial
well-being (Hilgert, Hogarth, & Beverly, 2003).
The Ministerial Council for Education, Early Childhood Development, and Youth Affairs (MCEECDYA) in Australia
defines Financial literacy as ‘the application of knowledge, understanding, skills and values in … financial contexts
and the related decisions that impact on self, others, the community and the environment’. This finding gives us an
insight that financial literacy has an impact not only on the individual, but on the society as well as the environment.
Financial literacy is fundamental for young adults when they are exposed to an array of financial products and
services where they need to choose whilst embarking on their own major financial life cycle events such as acquiring
a job, earning their first salaries, secure student loans or managing their credit card spending’s. In addition, lifestyle

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nal of Business A
Administration Vol. 6, No. 3; 2015

aspirations spurred on by b the influencce of advertisiing and the m media are also likely to incrrease young peeople’s
reliance onn debt (Fear and a O’Brien 2009).
2 Hence, it is of greatt importance tthat young stuudents or aduults are
financially literate and prrepared so that the best financcial decisions aare taken.
The first year
y of collegee constitutes an
a especially important
i trannsitional stage of developmeent within the larger
transitionall period becauuse most colleg ge students aree not yet finanncially indepenndent but are actively learniing the
skills needed to be financcially independ dent. Furthermmore, they percceive this indeppendence as keey to achievingg adult
status (Arn
nett 2004). If thhese youngsterrs are not provided a suitablee financial literracy curriculum
m, they will noot have
the supportt needed for them to enhancee their skills in purchasing beehaviour and saavings wherebyy they can jeoppardise
their potenttial of accumullating wealth at
a an early stage.
3. Researcch Methodolog
gy
3.1 Researcch Frameworkk
Following diagram showws how Educattion, Financial Socialization Agents and M
Money Attitudee affect the Finnancial
Literacy am
mong College students
s in Maalaysia.

Figure 1. Research
R frameework

3.2 Researcch Design Sam


mpling Population
This study can be consid
dered as a quanntitative and ex
xploratory studdy, the populatiion related witth this study iss based
on Malaysia. The samplee of this studyy will analyse the level of fiinancial literaccy among studdents in Malayysia. In
terms of saampling metho
odology, this sttudy had used convenience ssampling methhodology. We w will take a sammple of
105 studen
nts in Malaysia..
3.3 Data Collection
C Meth
hod
Data collecction is the pro
ocess of obtainning the informmation requisitte for the reseaarch. In this seection, the reseearcher
will devisee techniques in which the lattter will be ablee to gather infoormation. The iinformation coollected is conssidered
to be primaary data using survey. A set ofo questionnairres will be hannded-out face-tto-face as welll as through diifferent
online souurces. Online questionnaires
q will be an eaasy and fast w way to obtain the primary data given, thhus the
questionnaires will be both on hardcopy y and softcopy y. 25 copies willl be handed faace-to-face andd 80 will be provided
online so th
hat the studentss all around Malaysia can gett access to.
3.4 Data Analysis and Intterpretation
The total numbers
n of 105
5 respondent details
d are keyed into SPSS one by one, annd then the inddividual data w will be
analysed on o a group bassis. In this reseearch paper, th
he statistic willl include bothh of the descriiptive and infeerential
statistics. This
T study emp ployed Cronbacch alpha, the Pearson
P Momennt Correlation test, and regression test to exxamine
the relationnship between the
t variables.
4. Empiriccal Findings
4.1 Reliabiility Test
The reliabiility test is a consistent
c meassurement to ex xamine the reliiability when w we have same respondents, so this
test providees the standardd level of accurracy for variablles. “Cronbachh alpha” test inn SPSS is used and the standaard rate

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for this test is 0.70; it means that if the value of reliability of data is more than0.70, the variables and data are reliable.
Empirical finding on this test are presented in following table:

Table 1. Cornbach alpha test


Variable Value
Education 0.860
Financial Socialisation Agents 0.889
Money Attitude 0.861
Financial Literacy 0.776
All variables 0.873

According to the Table 1, all variables and data are reliable and we can proceed with the next step which correlation
and regression tests.
4.2 Pearson Correlation Analysis
The Correlation is used to look at the ‘net strength’ relationship between two continuous variables. Pearson
product-moment correlation coefficient is the correlation coefficient which conducted to view the correlation
between variables from the range of 0 to 1. When the value is close to 0, it represents a little or absolutely no
correlation between variables. We have used the following critical values to measure the correlation between the
variables.

Table 2. Pearson correlation critical values


Value of the Correlation Coefficient Strength of Correlation
1 Perfect
0.7 - 0.9 Strong
0.4 - 0.6 Moderate
0.1 - 0.3 Weak
0 Zero

4.3 Pearson Correlation Results

Table 3. Pearson correlation results


Education Financial Socialisation Money Attitude
Pearson Correlation .774** .123 .714**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .212 .000
N 105 105 105
** denotes sig at 5%

4.4 Relationship between Education and Financial Literacy


Information in the Table 3 shows that the Pearson correlation between education and financial literacy value is
positive. The Pearson Correlation value which is 0.774 and the p-value is 0.000 where P<0.05. The result shows that
there is a relationship between education and financial literacy. Since the Pearson Correlation value (r) is 0.774 and it
is nearly to 1, according to Table 2 (Danceys and Reidy’s, 2004), the relationship between education and financial
literacy is considered very strong and positive.

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4.5 Correlation between Financial Socialization Agents and Financial Literacy


Information in the Table 3 shows that the Pearson correlation between financial socialization agents and financial
literacy value is positive. The Pearson Correlation value is 0.123 and the p-value 0.212 where P>0.05. The result
shows that there is a relationship between the two variables namely, financial socialization agents and financial
literacy. Since the Pearson Correlation value (r) is 0.123 and it is nearer to 0, therefore, the relationship between
financial socialization and financial literacy is consider weak but there is a positive correlation.
4.6 Correlation between Money Attitude and Financial Literacy
Information in the Table 3 shows that the Pearson correlation between money attitude and Financial Literacy value is
positive. The Pearson Correlation value which is 0.714 and the p-value was 0.000 where P<0.05. The result shows
that there is a relationship between the two variables namely, money attitude and financial literacy. Since the Pearson
correlation value (r) is 0.714 and it is nearer to 1, therefore, the relationship between those two variables is
considered very strong and positive.
4.7 Regression Analysis

Table 4. Model summary


Model R R2 Adjusted R2 Std. Error of the Estimate
1 .846a .715 .707 .48268
a. Predictors: (Constant), IV2, IV3, IV1

According from the table above, it shows that the coefficient determination of R Square is 0.715. It indicates that
education, financial socialization agents and money attitude have contributed up to 71.5 % towards financial literacy
among university students in Malaysia. On the other hand, 28.5 % (100-71.5) identify as the elastic factors that is
uncontrollable.
4.8 ANOVA Analysis

Table 5. ANOVA analysis


ANOVAa Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Regression 59.144 3 19.715 84.618 .000
Residuals 23.531 101 .233
Total 82.675 104
dependent Variable: Financial Literacy
predictors: (constant), Education, Financial Socialisation Agents, Money Attitude

Based on the table above, the F value is 84.618 is significant at the level of 0.000 (p <0.05). Hence, the overall
regression model for education, financial socialization agents and money attitude is working properly in explaining
the difference in financial literacy among university students in Malaysia.
4.9 Regression Coefficients

Table 6. Regression analysis


Model Unstandardized Standardized t-stat. Sig.
Coefficients Coefficients
Beta Std. Error Beta
(Constant) .111 .322 .347 .730
Education .410 .080 .401 5.091 .000
Financial Socialisation Agents .023 .023 .052 .968 .335
Money Attitude .441 .069 .501 6.413 .000
Dependent variable: Financial Literacy

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The formula used to identify the beta value of standardized coefficients is stated below and it shows how each of the
independent variables (Education, Financial Socialization Agents and Money Attitude) has an impact on the
dependent variable (Financial Literacy):
Financial Literacy = 0.111 + 0.401 Education + 0.052 Financial Socialization Agents + 0.501 Money Attitude
From the coefficients table above, education has a significant positive influence towards financial literacy among
university students (p=0.000, t=5.091, β=0.401). If education increases by one unit, it will eventually increase the
financial literacy among university students by 0.401.
The hypothesis related to this variable is written in for of null and we can conclude that the null hypothesis is
rejected. H0: There is no relationship between the Education and Financial literacy.
Bernheim, Garrett, and Maki (2001), for example, provided evidence on the long-term behavioural effects of high
school financial education by showing that mandated school financial education significantly increases saving rates
at the household level and wealth levels over the course of the lifespan. In 2005, Varcoe, Martin, Devitto, and Go
noted that using a professionally designed financial curriculum improved the financial knowledge and behaviour of
high school students.
However, financial socialization agents do not have a significant influence towards the financial literacy among
university students even if the correlation is positive. The data are p=0.335, t=0.968, β=0.052. The hypothesis related
to this variable is written in null form in below and it is accepted. H0: There is no relationship between Financial
Socialization Agents and financial literacy
Based on the data collected, it can be seen that family was the main socialization agent that students deem for them
to be financially literate. Family was picked by 61 responders or 58.2%. Family, especially parents, is known to be
one of the primary socialization agents for youth when shaping money or saving attitudes (Clarke, Heaton, Israelsen,
& Eggett, 2005). Consider the study by Lyons (2004) in which they surveyed high school and college students who
participated in a financial education workshop. Their results showed that almost 77% of the students had turned to
their parents to obtain financial information. These socialization agents, especially family and peers played a great
role in shaping the financial knowledge of these youngsters as can be seen through observation of the data collected.
This suggests that the exposure to these socialization agents will impact the literacy rate of those students, the more
they are interacting with the agents, the more knowledgeable the students will be and vice-versa.
Furthermore, money attitude also has a significant positive influence towards the financial literacy among university
students. The data are p=0.000, t=6.413, β=0.501. If money attitude increases by one unit, it will increase the
financial literacy among university students by 0.501. the null hypothesis for this variable is written as below and
hence it is rejected. H0: There is no relationship between Money Attitude and financial literacy.
Based on previous research and current findings, it can be said that money attitude has a significant impact on
financial literacy of university youngsters. Having a good attitude towards money will enhance the willingness of
individuals to properly manage their finances as compared if they perceive money in a different way. Hence, if an
individual’s perception about money is negative, there will not be an effort in learning how to properly manage their
finances.
5. Conclusion
To conclude, we can observe that education, financial socialization agents and money attitude have a direct influence
of financial literacy rates among students in Malaysia. Education was proven to have the strongest influence on the
financial knowledge of university students. Varcoe, Martin, Devitto, and Go, 2005 noted that education is a
significant factor in shaping the financial knowledge and behaviour of youngsters and it is also only logical to
understand that for a better comprehension of a matter, education must be primarily opted. Money attitude was also
found to have a strong positive influence on the financial literacy of youngsters. Based on previous researches, the
National Jumpstart Coalition Survey done in 2006 for Korean students concluded that money attitudes were found to
be the most significant predictor of Korean high school students’ financial literacy. The result showing a relationship
between money attitudes and financial literacy was consistent with findings reported by Hong (2005) and Kim
(2003). Financial socialization agents also proved to have an influence on the literacy rates of young adults. Based on
current finding, it can be seen that family had the main influence for youngsters in terms of managing their money
followed by Peers.

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