Abstract:
Aims: Money management behaviour of undergraduates academically is a researchable area as
their decisions relating to money management not only have an impact on their life itself but also it
affects the long-term financial stability of an organisation, an industry and a nation. In emerging
economy contexts, money management behaviour heavily focused on functional financial literature,
there is a significant lack of published research focus on factors beyond different aspects of financial
literacy. Therefore, the purposes of this study include investigating factors beyond financial literacy
that influence money management behaviour and understanding the level of influences on money
management behaviour of undergraduates.
Study Design: The study was carried out in Sri Lanka, an emerging country and adopted a
quantitative survey method. A personally-administered, structured questionnaire was used to collect data from management undergraduates in the selected university in Sri Lanka.
Results: The results indicate that undergraduates economic, social and psychological factors
significantly affect money management behaviour. The results of regression-based path analysis
indicate that economic, social and psychological factors mediate the direct impact and encouraging
healthy money management behaviour in undergraduates. The study further identified the
deviations in money management behaviour and selected influences of undergraduates with respect
to gender, academic year, place of residence, doing online transactions and working hours.
Conclusion: The study has extended our understanding on the money management behaviour of
undergraduates. Research and managerial implications are provided together with future research
directions.
