Financial Literacy, Financial Attitude, and Lifestyle on Personal Financial Management Moderating Role of Income among Employed Generation Z in Pontianak

Abstract

Purpose: This study examines the effects of financial literacy, financial attitude, and lifestyle on personal financial management among employed Generation Z in Pontianak, Indonesia, and tests whether income moderates each relationship.

Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative associative design was applied to 150 employed Generation Z respondents selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed with Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA) comprising two regression equations, supported by validity, reliability, and classical assumption tests.

Findings: Financial literacy and financial attitude significantly and positively affect personal financial management, while lifestyle has no significant effect. Income significantly and positively affects personal financial management directly, but it moderates only the relationship between financial attitude and financial management, and in a negative direction; it does not moderate the effects of financial literacy or lifestyle.

Practical implications: Financial-literacy and attitude-building interventions are likely to be more effective than lifestyle-oriented programs, and income growth alone should not be assumed to improve financial management outcomes without accompanying attitudinal discipline.

Originality/value: This study provides new evidence on the differential, rather than uniform, moderating capacity of income across cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral antecedents of personal financial management among working Generation Z in a secondary Indonesian city, extending evidence beyond metropolitan-centered and student-only samples.

Paper type: Empirical