Exploring Financial Literacy An Empirical Framework for Lebanese-Armenian Minority Students

Abstract

Abstract Understanding the best ways to manage one’s financials has been an imperative phenomenon from the day money was introduced to civilization. In contemporary times, research works found that financial literacy which is the knowledge, behavior, and attitude in making sound financial decisions, plays a significant role in shaping people’s financial well-being. This raised its importance to become a frequently discussed topic in academia. Nonetheless, most of the research works conducted in this field have focused on the adult populations such as those nearing retirement, those employees receiving defined contributions to their retirement plans from their employers, and those who would like to either invest in the financial markets or save money differently. Most of the works are also focused on well-developed countries with established financial markets such as the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Similarly, most research works have used financial literacy as an independent variable to explain different financial decisions people undertake. Unlike conventional research works, this study delves into understanding the financial literacy antecedents of Lebanese-Armenian high school students. By doing so, I enrich the academic literature with information about the financial literacy of a minority group in a developing country and make it clearer to understand the main antecedents of this population segment’s younger generations' financial literacy formation. Through providing financial literacy pieces of training, and asking the students to fill out the questionnaires, financial literacy is positively related to financial knowledge and cognition. I also find that knowledgebased financial education could not make much of a difference in the Lebanese-Armenian youth’s financial knowledge by noting that they already possess a reasonable amount of such knowledge. Hence, there is a need for different sorts of interventions to elevate their total financial literacy levels. In addition, the research framework turns out to be highly significant, with cognition mediating the relationship between financial knowledge and financial literacy, and confidence moderating this relationship. This study provides practical recommendations to policymakers and researchers who would like to explore the research question further.