Unlock Financial Knowledge in Managers Through Games

Abstract

Financial literacy for managers and owners of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) is defined as the combination of awareness, knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviours that a potential entrepreneur or business owner should have to make effective financial decisions to start a business, run a business, and ensure its sustainability and growth (OECD, 2020). To ensure this combination of financial knowledge and skills, different educational perspectives may emerge as the solution. The use of gamification and digital game-based learning (DGBL) are educational methodologies largely used in formal and informal environments, for different target audiences and different fields of knowledge, including finance. However, it is largely used by children and younger people in the same contexts described above. We find a gap that justifies further research on the formal use of DGBL in the adult population, namely for the development of financial literacy. For the use of gamification in this context to be effective is essential to identify which knowledge, skills and attitudes are required for MSMEs managers. The OECD (2020) questionnaire is an example of an instrument used to measure adult financial knowledge namely in managers, owners and future entrepreneurs of MSMEs. The financial literacy content for managers includes questions on basic concepts of asset management, inflation, investments, cash flows and risk analysis. However, at the top of our knowledge, we find little research to support how can we actively develop this awareness and knowledge through games. In this study, through exploratory analysis of government documents and literature, we sought to understand the three scales for measuring financial literacy, namely, financial knowledge, financial attitudes, and financial behaviour, which are the main contents that should be included in the pre-game’s assessment and on the learning objectives. The second concern is how to include these scales in the game to positively impact the behaviour, attitudes and knowledge of the managers of MSMEs. Thus, the contribution of the study is to create through the metrics used to measure financial literacy and the game mechanisms used a proposal for a model for designing digital games for financial literacy. Policymakers, private associations connected to MSMEs, and other players may take, for sure, lessons to be learned to prepare better managers to guarantee stable and sustainable enterprise support.