Does Social Capital Influence Debt Literacy? The Case of Facebook Users in Poland

Abstract

Debt literacy has been considered to be a critical competence of modern societies since the recent global financial crisis. Debt-literate individuals are less prone to financial abuse and perform better in terms of credit management. Currently, debt-related information and knowledge are widely accessible through social networking sites (SNS), such as Facebook. However, not all SNS users have equal access to debt-related resources, and, consequently, they reach different scores in debt literacy tests. This study examines relational factors (resources) behind the debt literacy of Facebook users (N = 1,055) in Poland by applying the Resource Generator tool built into the online questionnaire. This quantitative instrument helps to diagnose resources that are embedded and mobilised (social capital) from personal networks made up of kin, friends and acquaintances. We found that users with more social capital, that is, better access to resources, perform better in debt literacy tests. Moreover, weak ties (acquaintances) appear to be good sources of debt-related information and knowledge that have positive impact on debt literacy scores.

Consumers' knowledge of cashless payments: Development, validation, and usability of a measurement scale

“…More populated places foster networking and observational learning. Prior studies both in Poland (Cwynar et al, 2020;Filipek et al, 2019) and abroad (Hong et al, 2004) indicate social capital as a significant factor explaining heterogeneous financial literacy. The insignificant relationship between the CPK score and gender confirms previous observations in Poland that, as opposed to more developed countries, the so called "gender gap" in financial literacy may be less likely in Central and East European (CEE) countries (Cwynar, 2021b).…”

“…For instance, Tennyson (2011) proposes a ten‐question test to measure insurance knowledge, while Lusardi and Tufano (2015) adapt the well‐known “Big Three” quiz developed to measure overall financial literacy (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2006) to gauge consumers' debt literacy. Other researchers later applied the adaptation proposed by Lusardi and Tufano (2015) in the Netherlands (van Ooijen & van Rooij, 2016) and Poland (Cwynar et al, 2018; Filipek et al, 2019). Volpe et al (2002) use an original quiz to measure the investment literacy of online investors, while Gathergood and Weber (2017) apply a mortgage literacy measure.…”

The Influence of Financial Literacy on Financial Inclusion: Social Capital as Mediating Variable

“…Social capital as a value shared between its members in society allows for cooperation. This social capital will make people learn from each other to be able to enjoy existing financial services (Filipek et al, 2019;Nuryani & Israfiani, 2021). Research by Khan et al, (2022) states that financial literacy combined with social capital as moderation will have an impact on financial inclusion.…”

“…Through close collaboration and interaction between communities, they can share knowledge and information, including knowledge about financial products. (Filipek et al, 2019;Guan, 2020;Khan et al, 2022). With this tight interaction, they learn from each other and can use various funding sources to run their small business.…”

Bibliometric Analysis: Debt Literacy for Reducing Over-Debt and Poverty Alleviation

“…Pendidikan dan pengetahuan tentang utang ini (literasi utang), tidak hanya didapatkan dari professional financial adviser tapi juga bisa melalui jejaring di media social seperti facebook (A Cwynar, 2020a). Pengguna media social dalam hal ini facebook dengan lebih banyak modal sosial, yaitu, akses yang lebih baik ke berbagai sumber daya, saat pengujian kuantitatif memiliki skor yang positif, dan sebaliknya yang kurang memiliki jejaraing memiliki skor yang rendah (Filipek, Cwynar, & Cwynar, 2019).…”