Women’s financial well‐being: A systematic literature review and directions for future research

Abstract

The study of financial well‐being has gained attention in recent years and a number of scholarly articles have pointed to gender‐related differences and their antecedents and consequents. The continuous growth of scholarly literature on women’s financial well‐being and its dispersion impose difficulties for researchers to comprehensively assess the state of knowledge on the topic. In this context, the objectives of this research are to conduct a systematic literature review of women’s financial well‐being and to propose directions for future research. This study comprises a review of 130 articles published in peer‐reviewed journals over the period 1990–2020. Bibliometric analysis was used to identify the year of publication and the countries surveyed, journal of publication, methodologies, concepts, measures and theoretical frameworks utilized; subsequent content analysis allowed us to summarize the main findings. We organized the identified antecedents of women’s financial well‐being into three categories: individual, household and community and societal level elements. The elements that constitute these categories are discussed and our findings point to important gender‐related differences. Based on the identified literature gaps, directions for future research are proposed. The theoretical contribution of this study lies in delivering a comprehensive overview of available evidence on women’s financial well‐being. Its practical and societal implications include the provision of knowledge that may allow better targeting of financial education programmes, economic empowerment interventions and public policies, which may help reduce the financial well‐being gender gap.

Determinants of Financial Empowerment Among Women in Saudi Arabia

“…The findings of this study are consistent with many previous studies, for instance, we found a positive association between financial literacy, financial self-efficacy, and financial empowerment. Scholars like Lusardi and Mitchell (2007a,b, 2008, Tufano (2010, 2009), Postmus (2010Postmus ( , 2011a, Kim and Chatterjee (2013); Ali et al (2015), Karakurum-Ozdemir et al (2019), andGoncalves et al (2021) believe that financial literacy is an important determinant of financial well-being and financial empowerment.…”

“…Philippas and Avdoulas (2020) and Goncalves et al (2021) highlight the gendered gap in financial literacy and financial well-being in the literature. Although there is some research available on financial literacy among women in developed countries, there exists sparse evidence on financial literacy and financial empowerment in developing countries and particularly in traditionally male-dominated and religious societies like Saudi Arabia, where men are the breadwinners and are responsible for handling finances and the related decisionmaking.…”

“…Financial well-being has become an important topic during recent years. Many scholars have identified the gender gaps in financial well-being, its antecedents, and outcomes (Goncalves et al, 2021). Financial literacy has emerged as an important determinant of financial well-being and financial empowerment.…”

“…Research suggests that communities with better financial literacy live prosperous and happy lives. Goncalves et al (2021) highlight the wider gender gap of financial literacy among men and women. Financial literacy is very important for women to promote their economic empowerment.…”

“…The study offers an important contribution to the body of knowledge and practice by responding to the research call by Lusardi and Tufano (2009); Hasler and Lusardi (2017), Philippas and Avdoulas (2020); Goncalves et al (2021), and Thomas and Gupta (2021). It offers a theoretical framework that examines the role of financial literacy and financial socialization in improving financial self-efficacy, financial coping behavior, and financial empowerment among Saudi women.…”