The links between job insecurity,financial well‐being and financial stress: A moderated mediation model

This study proposed a nuanced approach to the association between job insecurity and financial stress by examining whether financial well‐being mediates the established association. In addition, we examined whether the association between the job insecurity and financial stress, through financial well‐being, is moderated by income. For this study, we conducted a path analysis using 1,145 survey respondents. Results revealed a significant relationship between the job insecurity and financial stress and a partial mediation effect of financial well‐being. Moreover, the indirect effect of job insecurity on financial stress through financial well‐being was moderated by income. Although people who have higher financial well‐being were more likely to have lower financial stress, this relationship varied by income such that it was stronger for higher income groups than for lower income groups. Our findings provide insights into the way job insecurity and financial well‐being influence financial stress. This study will help the researchers and practitioners develop more effective and adaptive intervention programmes and resources for individuals and families. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed.     

The Prevalence and Risk of Food Insecurity in the Nordic Region: Preliminary Results

Surveys from societies like the USA, Canada, the UK, and France suggest that 5–15% of the population have experienced “food insecurity” in the sense of not having enough food to eat due to a lack of money or other resources. The Nordic countries are among the most affluent societies in the world and it is generally assumed that food insecurity has been eradicated due to relatively low differences in wages and well-developed social security schemes. This representative web survey of food and eating in Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden indicates however that food insecurity does exist in the Nordic region. In line with research from other industrialized counters, it also suggests that women, young people, single parents, and low-income group seem more at risk of experiencing food insecurity than others. These results must be regarded as preliminary, needing to be substantiated by more comprehensive studies. Moreover, there is a need to develop or use more standardized methodologies enabling comparison across countries and mapping trends over time.     

Monetary Policy and Financial Inclusion in Sub-Sahara Africa: A Panel VAR Approach

ABSTRACT

This article investigates the dynamic and bi-causal link between monetary policy and financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa using a panel VAR framework. The researcher obtained data from World Development Indicators (WDI) spanning from 1990 to 2014 for 48 sub-Saharan African economies. The findings suggest that a bi-causal relationship exists between monetary policy and financial inclusion. Specifically, it is evident that monetary policy affects financial inclusion, and financial inclusion is also influenced by monetary policy. The policy implication of this study is that the effectiveness of monetary policy depends on financial inclusion. Hence, the efforts of governments in sub-Saharan African countries should aim at policies that enhance financial inclusion for effective implementation of monetary policy. Also, promoting financial inclusion will require governments in sub-Saharan Africa to reduce their monetary policy rates.     

Comparing perceived insecurity among customers and retail staff during service encounters

The study compares perceived insecurity by customers and retail staff during service encounters. The topic is important, because retailers invest millions of dollars in security. The framework of the study divides perceived insecurity into financial, physical, psychosocial and time-related insecurity. A total of 39 consumers participated in seven focus group discussions, and 34 retail staff members responded semi-structured interviews. The study confirms that from both customer and staff perspectives a high quality service encounter has an influence on perceived insecurity, and it diminishes disturbance and criminal activity. However, there are differences between customer and staff perspectives in many areas.     

农村普惠性金融发展对中国农户收入的影响——来自1877个县(市)面板数据的实证分析

本文使用来自中国2006—2009年1877个县(市)的面板数据,实证分析了中国农村普惠性金融发展及其各个维度对农户收入的影响。研究结果表明:中国农村普惠性金融发展对农户收入具有显著的正效应,组成农村普惠性金融的地理渗透性和产品接触性与农户收入正相关,使用效用性和农户收入负相关;从区域层面看,东部地区农村普惠性金融发展和农户收入正相关,而中、西部地区农村普惠性金融发展和农户收入负相关。针对以上的结论,本文就农村普惠性金融发展促进农户收入增长提出了简要的政策建议。     

Quality financial inclusion and financial vulnerability

Despite existing evidence suggesting that financial inclusion enhances consumers' welfare, there has been no attempt to examine the link between financial inclusion and financial vulnerability, measured along multiple dimensions. We computed more comprehensive indices of financial vulnerability and financial inclusion using polychoric principal component analysis based on a nationally representative financial inclusion survey in South Africa. Results from quantile regressions show that only the top 20% of the financially included had lower vulnerability but the effect was weaker among the more vulnerable categories. Also, the decline in financial vulnerability was less pronounced when financial inclusion was narrowly defined by excluding quality indicators. These findings suggest that financial inclusion is benefitting a few consumers in South Africa which points to the need for a bottom-up approach in designing financial products that improve the welfare of the financially included consumers.     

Does Payday Lending Hurt Food Security in Low‐Income Households?

During the study period of 2005–2011, household food insecurity rates as well as regulations over payday lending industry increased in the United States. This study evaluates the association between access to payday lending and the risk of food insecurity using cross‐sectional samples of low‐income households from the 2005 to 2011 Food Security Supplements of the Current Population Survey. The study uses county‐level payday lender density, state‐level legislative status, and county border indicators of cross‐state payday access to examine how payday lender availability affects household food insecurity. The findings suggest that access to payday lending, which may be presumed to provide convenient short‐term credit to underserved consumers, increases the likelihood of household food insecurity by 2.8–6.0 percentage points in absolute terms. Furthermore, the county border effect of payday access has become insignificant later in the sample period, the potential reasons for which are discussed.     

Young People Are the Front Lines of Financial Inclusion: A Review of 45 Years of Research

Amidst concerns about percentages of households that remain unbanked or underbanked, policy endeavors have emerged to promote financial inclusion by making financial products such as savings accounts readily available. While these endeavors have primarily concentrated on households, young people may be the front lines of financial inclusion because they may be more likely to be banked in young adulthood and beyond when they start off with savings accounts earlier in life. This article addresses young people's financial inclusion by comprehensively reviewing 60 research studies on young people's savings, discussing the role of the family in young people's financial inclusion, discussing financial inclusion from an institutional perspective, presenting policy implications, and identifying gaps in knowledge and opportunities for research. Policies that open savings accounts for young people early in life may be a promising strategy for extending financial inclusion and preventing unbanked or underbanked status later in life.     

The crisis cloud's silver linings: The effects of hope and gratitude on employee burnout and engagement

A crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic has a tremendous impact on organisations and their employees. Building on the job demands–resources model, conservation of resources theory and the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, we examined the influence of job stressors on employee burnout, as well as how positive emotions can help employees thrive in tough times. We collected data from 503 Australian employees during the transition period of the COVID-19 crisis, when the country had reached a high vaccination rate and was starting to prepare to return to pre-crisis normal. Our findings show that financial insecurity has a direct impact on employee burnout, whereas a health threat has only an indirect effect. Further, our findings highlight the importance of positive emotions. Hope for the post-crisis future was found to buffer the negative impact of financial insecurity and reduce employee burnout, and feeling gratitude at work was found to mitigate the effects of burnout and enhance employee engagement even when employees are emotionally exhausted.     

OFDI逆向技术溢出、异质性金融发展与经济增长质量

文章首先采用熵权法和因子分析法测算了经济增长质量综合指数与金融发展综合指数,选取2003~2017年中国30个省份的面板数据,在检验了经济增长质量的空间相关性与金融发展的门槛效应后,构建了动态空间面板模型,实证研究了不同金融发展水平下OFDI逆向技术溢出对经济增长质量的影响。研究结果表明,当金融发展处在较低水平时,OFDI逆向技术溢出对经济增长质量的促进作用不明显;当金融发展处在较高水平后,OFDI逆向技术溢出对经济增长质量的促进作用明显。进一步在地区异质性分析中发现,OFDI逆向技术溢出对经济增长质量的影响存在明显的地区差异性,东部地区OFDI逆向技术溢出对经济增长质量影响的门槛效应更明显。     

Expenditure patterns on food and non food items of Khayelitsha households,Western Cape,South Africa

Food insecurity or lack of access to adequate and nutritious food is a major determinant of under‐nutrition. Expenditure patterns accompanied by unemployment, low level of education, inflation and high food prices have a direct negative impact on food availability within households (Moller, 1997). Ghany and Schwenk (1993) found that as household income increases, the proportion of expenditures on food decreases, the proportion of expenditures on clothing, rent, fuel, and light stayed the same and that of sundries increased. The aim of this study was to investigate household expenditure patterns on food and non‐food items in Khayelitsha. A total of 20 households (10 from the formal and 10 from the informal settlements) were randomly selected from those willing to participate in the study. A questionnaire with open ended and closed questions was used to collect data. The questionnaire comprised four sections namely: biographical information, socio‐economic information which used wealth quintiles to assess households’ social economic status, total expenditure information and a food/hunger scale was used to assess households’ food availability. The findings revealed that households from informal settlements spent more money (62.2%) as a proportion of their income on food compared to households from the formal settlement (39%). There was higher unemployment rate (100%) at the informal settlement compared to the formal settlement (40%). Wealth quintiles scales did not reflect the social status of the households as equipment and assets owned by households were only used as fallback position during times of economic hardships. Households used different purchasing strategies; food and non‐food items were mainly purchased from outside the township (60%). Forty percent of the households bought their items from local shops and spazas because they allowed them to buy items whenever little money was available or to take items on credit. All the respondents preferred to buy bread and small items from spazas and local shops. Prices of items in the spazas and local shops were higher compared to prices of items in bigger shops outside the townships. The food/hunger scale and wealth quintiles showed that informal settlement households were more food insecure (as they were all unemployed and about 50% of the households ran out of food always) and had fewer assets compared to the formal settlement households. The implications of these findings underscore the need to improve socio‐economic conditions of low resource households through empowerment programs. These programs can be in the form of training in management/decision making, work related skills/literacy (to help them access formal employment), business management/income generation skills (to help them to be self‐employed), budgeting, and food gardening. This approach can help to increase the resource base and alleviate food insecurity in low resource households.     

Mobile Money and Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa: the Moderating Role of Social Networks

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to test the moderating effect of social networks in the relationship between mobile money usage and financial inclusion in rural Uganda. The results revealed that there is a significant and positive moderating effect of social networks in the relationship between mobile money usage and financial inclusion in rural Uganda. Besides, mobile money usage and social networks have direct and significant effects on financial inclusion in rural Uganda. Thus, the findings suggest that existence of social networks of strong and weak ties among mobile money users promote financial inclusion in rural Uganda. Previous studies have concentrated only on investigating the impact of mobile money in promoting financial inclusion in developing economies, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, this particular study introduces the moderating effect of social networks in the relationship between mobile money usage and financial inclusion in rural Uganda, which seems to be sparse and lacking in literature.     

Financial Inclusion in Rural Uganda: Testing Interaction Effect of Financial Literacy and Networks

ABSTRACT

Based on the premise that financial literacy take place in networks to influence the level of financial inclusion, the study examined whether networks moderate in the relationship between financial literacy and financial inclusion among poor households in rural Uganda. Studies have revealed that financial literacy affects the level of financial inclusion. However, these studies have failed to incorporate the moderating role of networks in the relationship between financial literacy and financial inclusion. The results showed that networks positively and significantly moderates in the relationship between financial literacy and financial inclusion with both financial literacy and networks having direct and significant effects.     

The effects of traffic light labels and involvement on consumer choices for food and financial products

Traffic light (TL) labels that inform consumers regarding product safety have received increasing attention in different fields. Behind the background of behavioural economics, this paper presents the results of a split‐sample choice experiment conducted in Germany to evaluate the impact of TL labelling on purchases of food and financial products. We hypothesize that consumers experience different levels of involvement with these two types of products, leading to different recommendations regarding the use of TLs. The results show that TLs affect consumer purchases of both product groups by focusing their attention on specific product attributes. For food, whereas the low‐fat attribute has no significant impact on food choices that do not include TLs, this attribute has a positive impact on choices once it is signalled with a TL label. The positive evaluation of the organic production attribute of a food product without a TL decreases when the same product is labelled with a TL. In the case of financial products, TLs significantly reinforce the impact of all characteristics on choice probability. TLs also generate a halo effect with regard to return variance. Although consumers demonstrate different levels of involvement for the two types of products, involvement does not always impact the evaluation of attributes. Compared with less involved consumers, more involved consumers exhibit more heterogeneous evaluations of the return variability attribute in the case of the financial product and the organic attribute in the case of the food product.     

Mobile Telephony,Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth

ABSTRACT

The paper employs the multipurpose nature of mobile telephony to investigate its welfare implications using a large sample of households in Ghana. We use seemingly unrelated probit and instrumental variable procedure to test for two related issues: First, we investigate whether mobile telephony promotes pro-poor development by helping households to efficiently allocate consumption and navigate out of poverty. Second, we analyze whether access to a broad array of financial services enhances the capacity of households to live worthwhile lives. The results show that mobile penetration and financial inclusion significantly reduce the probability of a household becoming poor and increase per capita household consumption of food and non-food items. Our results show that the welfare benefits of mobile telephony and financial inclusion are not more pronounced in female-headed households. These insights serve as useful guide for government and other stakeholders who are looking for avenues to improve livelihoods.     

An investigation into the availability and economic accessibility of food items in rural and urban areas of Northern Ireland

The question of access to food has three components: physical access to food, financial access to food and access to information about food. This study explores the issue of financial access to food. The affordability of food is a major consideration for consumers, an important marketing tool for retailers and a principal theme in food policy. Research methods included a comparative shopping exercise (shopping basket analysis) in 109 stores across four towns (two urban and two rural) in Northern Ireland. Store type included multiples (major supermarket chains) and symbol group stores (those stores operating under a franchise from one main buying group). Results indicate that in the main it is cheaper to buy from the multiples, shopping from a symbol group store can incur cost penalties of up to 39.4% above the multiples’ prices. Price disparities, analysed using z‐scores, were apparent between towns and across store types. Similarly, an availability audit of foodstuffs portrayed the multiples as the most comprehensive from which to shop, whereas symbol group stores fared poorly in the availability of fresh green vegetables, carcass meat and wholemeal breads. This is an important issue because it plays an integral part in the health inequality debate and also relates to social exclusion. Fundamentally, financial access to food impinges upon the whole question of food‐purchasing behaviour in terms of accessibility, affordability and availability. Therefore, economic access to food can be used as a useful precursor to a comprehensive analysis of food access in its entirety. It is also useful as an indicator of social exclusion. This study seeks to inform and influence the food policy debate.     

Trends in international business thought and literature: Job insecurity: Emerging social roles of the 90s

Job insecurity is a societal problem of global concern that is not likely to abate in the foreseeable future. The proportion of the population subjected to some degree of job insecurity is considerably larger than the number of workers who actually experience job loss. To date, the problem, despite its damaging consequences, has not been adequately studied. In particular, scholars have ignored the impact of the external environment. This leaves open a field of interesting questions concerning the relationships between cultural and other factors and the experience of job insecurity. Such factors may have important effects on the way individuals respond to job insecurity in different countries. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.