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A widespread appearance of insufficient understanding of financial products’ key attributes, and generally lack of financial knowledge and literacy, poor consumer protection, deregulation and fierce competition in the financial-services industry were a fruitful ground for origination and distribution of predatory, destructive and usually very complex financial instruments, what altogether led to the global financial crisis. Therefore, one of the focal points towards which policymakers direct public attention nowadays is raising the level of financial literacy of financial consumers as a necessary prerequisite for making more informed financial decisions. Bearing that in mind, with this empirical survey we aim to explore personal factors which might explain disparities in the level of financial literacy, rather than investigating the effects of financial literacy on financial decisions and their successfulness. Furthermore, while personal finance and individuals or households are at the center of the most of studies, we pay attention to corporate finance, to be more precise, hotel managers, since tourism, hospitality and hotel industry are continuously increasing their importance in the Croatian economy. Besides examination of other personal characteristics, an assumption is made that hotel managers’ financial literacy is driven by the level of formal education, continuous professional specialization and consulting as well as work experience in comparable job positions. A questionnaire research encompassed 120 hotels (3, 4 and 5 star hotels) in the Split-Dalmatia County. The response rate was approximately 27% i.e. managers from 32 hotels filled out the questionnaire. The most of them had intermediate and higher level of financial literacy, while disparities in the level of financial literacy are explained with a presence or absence of professional specialization and consulting services. Thus, with an overall promotion of financial literacy importance, the concept of lifelong learning and using financial experts’ service in the corporate sector need to be emphasized in order to potentially boost the performance of this industry. |
