2024

Silinskas, G.; Laine, K.; Ahonen, A.

Financial and ICT (information and communication technology) skills are consistently recognized among the most essential 21st Century skills (Kunina-Habenicht & Goldhammer, 2020; Moreno-Herrero et al., 2018). These skills are important because, due to major technological progress, financial markets are increasingly accessible to consumers even at a young age. In the present study, we investigated financial literacy of 15-year-old adolescents in OECD (the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) European countries, based on the OECD’s PISA (the Programme for International Student Assessment) 2018 assessment (N = 30 019). We showed that financial literacy is connected to five broad categories of factors: ICT factors, financial literacy related factors, home and school learning environments, general motivational approaches to tasks, and socio-demographic factors. Concerning ICT factors, perceived competence and perceived autonomy of ICT use were positively related to financial literacy scores. Financial literacy factors such as confidence in using digital services and perceived autonomy in handling money were positively related to financial literacy. Regarding home and school factors, learning financial concepts at school was positively, whereas parental involvement was negatively related to financial literacy. As for motivational factors, both work mastery and mastery goal orientation were positively related to financial literacy scores. Finally, there were no gender differences, but low socio-economic status and having an immigrant background were related to lower financial literacy. Overall, despite some variation, the most consistent and strong finding across European OECD countries was that in order to develop adolescents’ financial literacy, they should be exposed to the financial concepts at school and granted autonomy in handling a certain amount of money independently.