Experiencing financial problems among university students

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating effect of gender on the relationship between financial attitude, financial socialization, and secondary socialization agents on experiencing financial problems among university students. Design/methodology/approach – The sample for the present paper comprises data collected from 11 universities across Malaysia using the stratified sampling method. A multi‐group analysis approach using Amos was applied to assess the moderating effect of gender. Findings – The findings indicated that gender significantly moderates the effect of financial attitude, financial socialization and secondary socialization agents on financial problems among students. Research limitations/implications – There are few empirical studies on the moderating effect of gender on financial matters, and this research is one of the first that contribute to a better understanding of the gender influence on financial matters, particularly for family economics and gender educators. Originality/value – The paper contributes to the scarce knowledge about gender and financial matters, by introducing readers to the importance of gender issues in financial practices. It represents a starting point to an important area of research.