Modelo estrutural de literácia financeira : um estudo sobre o comportamento financeiro de brasileiros considerando grupos com diferentes níveis de conhecimento financeiro e autoconfiança

Abstract

People are increasingly responsible for making sound financial decisions to foster their financial satisfaction and wellbeing, which magnifies the importance of financial literacy, the concept and measurement of which are not yet crystallized in the literature. In this study, financial literacy has been defined as a set of relationships capable of at least partly explaining people’s financial behavior, considering the heterogeneity of the sample public for different combinations of financial knowledge and self-confidence. Therefore, the present study investigates whether the financial literacy conceptual model proposed applies similarly to every group under study. To this end, we used OECD (2016) data, which have also been used and made available in Garber and Koyama (2016). Once analyzed, the data produced a final sample of 1,487 Brazilian citizens. The relationships among variables were estimated by partial least squares structural equations path modeling and the differences between groups were investigated using multi-group analysis. The results indicate that, in the financial literacy model, financial knowledge positively influences self-confidence, and both have a positive influence on financial behavior, but, for individuals with low financial knowledge and low self-confidence, as well as for those with too much or too little confidence, the model did not hold. This implies arguing that financial education programs may not be of use if they address technical knowledge improvement alone and fail to take account of behavioral aspects.