Financial literacy competencies of women in agribusiness and their financial experiences during a pandemic

Southern African Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Financial literacy competencies of women in agribusiness and their financial experiences during a pandemic
 
Creator Gumbo, Lilian Marimuthu, Ferina Vengesai, Edson
 
Subject Entrepreneurship; Personal Finance; Agribusiness financial literacy; financial behaviour; financial literacy gender gap; financial experiences; financial planning; financial literacy competences; retirement planning.
Description Background: Women have generally lower levels of financial literacy than their male counterparts, regardless of country of origin. This financial literacy gender gap makes women more vulnerable to the effects of pandemics, like the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.Aim: This study sought to examine financial literacy competencies of women in agribusiness and their financial experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.Setting: The study was carried out in five agricultural districts namely, Gweru, Masvingo, Mutoko, Mount Darwin, and Mutare. The districts represented Zimbabwean agricultural regions.Methods: An embedded mixed methods research design was adopted where both qualitative and quantitative data were collected for analysis. Data were successfully collected from 216 women in agribusiness and follow-up interviews were conducted with 15 informants.Results: Women in agribusiness have poor financial literacy competencies. Most women in agribusiness practised only a range of 2–3 good financial behaviours out of the eight examined concepts, with only 10% scoring above the minimum expected score of six. During the pandemic, women in agribusiness lost income and failed to take care of household and business expenses.Conclusion: Women in agribusiness do not practise vital financial literacy competencies required for financial wellbeing and financial resilience. Therefore, the study recommends the implementation of training programmes that capacitate women with basic financial literacy competencies such as budgeting, saving, and retirement planning.Contribution: Financial literacy competencies were conceptualised together with financial experiences during a pandemic for the first time. More so, in the agribusiness sector which is crucial for economic development.
 
Publisher AOSIS Publishing
 
Contributor Durban University of Technology
Date 2023-12-14
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Mixed methods
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/sajesbm.v15i1.612
 
Source The Southern African Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management; Vol 15, No 1 (2023); 11 pages 2071-3185 2522-7343
 
Language eng
 
Relation
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https://sajesbm.co.za/index.php/sajesbm/article/view/612/890 https://sajesbm.co.za/index.php/sajesbm/article/view/612/891 https://sajesbm.co.za/index.php/sajesbm/article/view/612/892 https://sajesbm.co.za/index.php/sajesbm/article/view/612/893
 
Coverage Zimbabwe COVID-19 pandemic era Gender
Rights Copyright (c) 2023 Lilian Gumbo, Ferina Marimuthu, Edson Vengesai https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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