Debt literacy and debt advice-seeking behaviour among Facebook users: the role of social networks

Autor: Andrzej Cwynar, Wiktor Cwynar, Mieczysław Kowerski, Kamil Filipek, Przemysław Szuba
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2020
Předmět:
Zdroj: Baltic Journal of Economics, Vol 20, Iss 1, Pp 1-33 (2020)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1406-099X
2334-4385
1406099X
DOI: 10.1080/1406099X.2019.1693142
Popis: Professional advice can be perceived as a means to tackle shortcomings in the objectively measured financial literacy of consumers. However, most studies suggest that less financially literate individuals are less likely to seek experts’ financial advice. At the same time, it has been shown that financial confidence – or subjectively perceived financial literacy – is positively correlated with the propensity to request such professional advice. This study examines these puzzling effects in a sample of 1,055 Facebook users in Poland, and within an analytical framework that allows control of the potential endogeneity of financial literacy to professional advice. A series of regressions applied to the results of our survey showed that objective debt literacy – a little-studied aspect of financial literacy – was insignificant in explaining advice-seeking behaviour, although the decisions to ask for advice were positively dependent on subjective debt literacy. Such outcomes prove that subjective financial literacy should be treated as a separate construct which can predict financial behaviour above and beyond predictions based on objective financial literacy. Our findings also suggest a positive role for social networks in inducing desired financial actions. We found that respondents having access to greater resources embedded in their social networks are more inclined to seek professional debt advice.
Databáze: Directory of Open Access Journals