Financial Well Being A Gendered Perspective on Psychological Enablers and Barriers

Abstract

This study examines how psychological factors affect financial newlinewell-being in an Indian context. In addition, it provides a gendered newlineperspective on the influence of these factors on financial well-being. newlineThe study focused on participants who were actively involved in newlinehousehold finances and made independent financial decisions. A newlinesequential explanatory mixed methods design was used in this study, newlinewhich consisted of two distinct phases - an initial quantitative phase, newlinefollowed by an explanatory qualitative phase. The findings from both newlinephases were integrated to gain better and more comprehensive newlineinsights into the research problem.The first phase the quantitative phase, is a cross-sectional newlinesurvey aimed at understanding some of the psychological factors that newlinedrive financial well-being in an Indian context. The second phase the qualitative phase, employed semi-structured newlineinterviews to examine the perception of financial well-being among newlinewomen in our sample to unravel the reasons for gender differences in newlinefinancial well-being. The findings newlinefrom the quantitative phase indicate that psychological factors are newlineimportant gateways to financial well-being, and the pathway to financial newlinewell-being is the enactment of prudent short-term and long-term newlinefinancial behaviour. Financial self-efficacy and propensity to plan newlinepositively influenced financial well-being, while risk-tolerance, newlinematerialism, and a tendency for social comparison negatively influenced newlineit. newline