The relationship between financial literacy and financial digitization: A research on students of the Department of Banking and Finance

During the historical process, the concept of literacy was initially defined as the ability to read and write a language structurally. It has nowadays acquired a different dimension. Nowadays, many literacy definitions have been made for almost every kind of variable and technological literacy, media literacy and financial literacy are exemplary for this. Financial literacy represents the financial decision-making process in which individuals acquire financial information, interpret this acquired information, and turns the results into behaviors. Nowadays because of the reasons such as the increase in the number of financial tools and the complexifying of their qualifications and the permanent information flow to the markets, making a rational investment decision will not be possible with limited information. Thus, financial literacy necessitates possessing more technical information in today's world. In the matter of reaching the information, usage of digital channels shortens the reaching process and enables a faster decision-making process. According to the literature, financial literacy consists of components such as financial information, financial attitude, financial behavior. Moreover, when technological advancements and digitalization are taken into consideration, the relationship between financial literacy and digitalization comes into prominence. In this research, the relation between the concepts of financial literacy and financial digitalization has been examined. For that purpose, the data acquired from the questionnaire study with Burdur Mehmet Akif Ersoy University Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences Banking and Finance Department students have been analyzed using the structural equation modeling and the hypotheses have been tested. Analysis results revealed that the relationship between financial literacy and digital attitude and usage is generally significant and positive.