Examining theories, mediators and moderators in financial well-being literature: a systematic review and future research agenda

Abstract

PurposeThe United Nation's 2030 mission provides scholars, practitioners and governments with a valuable framework to direct their research in a way that tackles societal issues. Towards this aim, some key Sustainable Development Goals focus on improving the well-being of humans and societies; however, the literature dealing with individual financial well-being is still underdeveloped and fragmented. To address this significant research gap, this paper reviews the literature on financial well-being. It provides an in-depth analysis of different theories, mediators and moderators employed in financial well-being studies to deepen the theoretical framework and widen the scope of financial well-being research.Design/methodology/approachUsing the Web of Science Core Collection database (WoS), the literature on financial well-being was reviewed (n = 32) following a systematic review approach.FindingsFindings revealed that (a) there is a limited application of theories in financial well-being studies (n = 19) with the majority of studies (n = 15) employing only one theory; (b) twenty-one different theories were used with the maximum number of theories employed by any study was four; (c) the theory of planned behavior was the most commonly used (n = 4); (d) While a reasonable number of studies examine mediators and moderators in antecedents-financial well-being relationships, studies examining mediators and moderators relationships in financial well-being-outcomes relationships are limited. Based on these findings, this review identified a need for future theory-based financial well-being research and examining the role of underlying and intervening mechanisms in antecedents-financial well-being-outcomes relationships.Originality/valueThe study concludes by suggesting some relevant theories and prospective variables that can explain potential financial well-being relationships. To the best of the author's knowledge, this is the first review on the use of theories, mediators and moderators in financial well-being studies.

Analysing Literature on Financial Well-being: A Bibliometric Approach

“…The study pinpoints that there exists a significant research gap in examining mediators and moderators in extant financial well-being studies (Bashir & Qureshi, 2023b). This study could identify only a handful of studies considering mediators (Castro-González et al, 2020;Losada-Otálora & Alkire (née Nasr), 2019;Shim et al, 2009;Sinha et al, 2021) and moderators (Dickason-Koekemoer & Ferreira, 2019;Gutter & Copur, 2011;Mahdzan et al, 2020;Yeo & Lee, 2019) in their studies.…”

“…Research on financial well-being has significantly increased during the past two decades. However, a majority of the papers studied financial well-being without employing any theory (Bashir & Qureshi, 2023b). With researchers considering financial well-being a dynamic concept, extant conceptualizations of the concept show diversity across both authors and regions.…”