Why are Women Less Financially Motivated Than Men?

Abstract

A previous group in the honors college wrote a research paper about women’s motivation to become financially literate. They found that, on average, women reported lower motivation to learn about personal finance than men did. Women who expect to make financial decisions with a spouse reported lower motivation to learn finance than women who expect to make financial decisions alone. Men’s motivation to learn personal finance did not vary according to those expectations. They surveyed college students at ECU and got 176 participants. One problem with this study was the low response rate and small sample size. In our study, we plan to increase this survey size and survey staff and faculty at ECU, along with people 18 and older in the surrounding community. Another limitation of the study is that although the survey was based on surveys used in published papers on financial literacy, it was not written to directly test implications of the Expectancy Theory of Motivation.