A Comparison of Financial Well-Being and Its Antecedents Across Different Employment Categories in Malaysia

Abstract

This study compares the level of financial well-being (FWB) and its antecedents(financial stress, financial behaviour, financial literacy, and the internal locus of control(LOC)) across individuals of different employment categories in Malaysia. Second, it investigates the relationship between those antecedents and FWB and compares the differences in the strength. Data were collected from 1,867 respondents from four employmentgroups using a questionnaire-based survey. Descriptive statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted to achieve the first research objective, and ordinary leastsquares (OLS) regression was used to achieve the second research objective. The resultsindicate that FWB and its antecedents of Malaysian employees vary considerably acrossemployment categories. The FWB of the unemployed and private-sector workers is significantly lower than their government sector and self-employed counterparts. Financialstress, financial behavior, and an internal LOC are the most determinative of employees’FWB, however, they have varying degrees of impact across different employment categories. The results relate to employers and policymakers in formulating strategies to promotehigher FWB among Malaysian employees, based on their employment categories.