Research by: Melvin A. Jabar & Ma. Luisa C. Delayco
Executive Summary
This paper primarily interrogates the assumption that financial literacy essentially decreases impulse buying. However, this may not necessarily be the case, given that individuals navigate in different social contexts. Teachers in the Philippines are stereotypically perceived as heavy financial borrowers due to their limited income. Debt problem among teachers in the Philippines is seen as a serious concern attributing the debt behavior to a lack of financial literacy. Literature indicates that financial literacy can reduce the likelihood of impulse buying. Financial literacy provides a frame of reference for individuals to carefully make good decisions, including wise spending and financial planning. Impulse buying is a behavioral repertoire signifying lack of planning. Given their quick access to private financial loan companies, it is worthy to investigate if teachers exhibit lack of financial literacy by engaging in impulse buying. The first goal of this paper is to understand what individual, familial, and social factors predispose public-school teachers to resort to loans, that is to describe the financial literacy of public-school teachers. The second was to conduct a needs assessment to better understand what financial-literacy-related interventions can be given to them to improve their financial decision-making, that is to examine relationship between financial literacy and impulse buying. In this paper, financial literacy is operationalized in terms of two variables, namely, ownership of financial instruments and use of financial records and record keeping. This paper is based on a survey conducted among 310 public elementary and high school teachers in Metro Manila, Philippines. These schools were purposely chosen as they were identified as partner schools of the CSR program of the private financial institution that requested the conduct of the study. Results of the study show that savings accounts and debit cards are the more popular financial instruments that many of the teachers possess. Generally, the teachers also manifest a certain level of use of financial records and of record keeping. The results likewise exhibit a negative but weak correlation between impulse buying and financial literacy in terms of use of financial records and record keeping. This means that impulse buying will likely decline if use of financial records and record keeping are constantly practiced or observed. Results of the multiple regression analysis reveal that use of financial records and record keeping predicted impulse buying. These results necessitate that financial literacy education needs to underscore the importance of the use of financial records and of keeping such records as they can influence individuals to be critical in making decisions concerning purchases. Practical aspects of financial literacy should also be included such as development of skills in planning and budgeting for sound decision making. This study indirectly manifests the possibility that debt behavior among public-school teachers may be due to other reasons like the inability to apply higher order thinking skills for financial literacy and financial planning: analysis of all available financial instruments and their associated risks, review of credit reports to make sense of the available financial instruments, and evaluation of options to align with financial planning and attainment of financial goals.
To cite this article: Jabar, M. A. & Delayco, M. L. C. (2021). Impulse buying and financial literacy among public elementary and high school teachers in the Philippines. DLSU Business & Economics Review, 31(1), 42–54.
To access this article: https://www.dlsu.edu.ph/research/publishing-house/journals/ber/
About the journal
The DLSU Business & Economics Review (DLSUBER) publishes high-quality theoretical, empirical, and methodological research in the fields of accounting, business management, commercial law, economics, finance, and marketing. The DLSU Business & Economics Review aims to reach an audience in these six fields and is published twice a year. It is listed in SciVerse Scopus since 2011 and abstracted and Indexed in EBSCO since 2009. It is listed in the ASEAN Citation Index since 2015. It is also included in the Commission on Higher Education Journal Challenge Program since 2017.
