Financial Literacy and Behaviour among Universiti Malaysia Terengganu’s Students during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected almost all sectors including the higher education sector. Some students have lost their jobs and income due to the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) by the government. This situation has led to the limitation of various activities such as economic, social, and educational sectors to operate, further leading to financial problems among students. The main objective of this study is to identify the extent of students’ literacy level, students’ financial problems and the factors that influence their financial behaviours in fulfilling their needs and wants as a student. These factors will be explored in terms of attitude, influence, fulfilling basic needs and wants and online purchases. The level of literacy will be examined through the value of the score obtained from the questionnaires. The respondents consisted of 100 students from various courses and faculties at UMT. The finding shows that the level of financial literacy for UMT students is at a low level. For statistical items, the study used quantitative analysis including two sample t-test, ANOVA test, correlation test and multiple regression analysis. These finding also shows that there is a significant relationship between basic needs (r=0.285, sig=0.004) and wants (r=0.535, sig=0.000) with financial behaviours. These findings also indicate that there is a significant influence of the basic needs (β=0.397, p-value = 0.01) on the student's financial problems. Therefore, students need to be given financial knowledge to improve their level of financial literacy and given the incentives to ease their financial problems in students to survive themselves.

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