Becoming superwomen: exploring the financial wellbeing of Australian millennial women through superannuation
Creators: name: Bruce, Bronwyn
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024
Subjects: classificationCode: 350605
subject: Marketing management (incl. strategy and customer relations)

description: This thesis explores the consumption behaviour and financial wellbeing of Australian millennial women (AMW). That is, it investigates how AMW build their financial capability and make decisions about superannuation by observing others – a cornerstone of Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). AMW are currently in their late-20s to early-40s, with the oldest AMW just one generation away from the Generation X cohort of women who find themselves in the predicament of being the fastest-growing homeless population in Australia. One avenue to address this issue is to examine how the sources of self-efficacy drive financial capability so AMW may be able to undertake positive behaviour change by engaging with superannuation earlier in their lives. This is significant to their financial wellbeing later in life due to the long-term benefits of low fees and compounding returns on superannuation balances.
 
This thesis used qualitative methods, adopting a constructivist-interpretive paradigm to collect and analyse interview data and podcast content. The findings extend the body of literature on financial wellbeing by developing a theoretical Financial Wellbeing Model that illuminates how AMW engage with superannuation. Further to this, a Model of Superannuation Engagement Archetypes of AMW was produced to learn how these consumers are involved with superannuation at various levels across a landscape.
 
Data revealed and illustrated in the Financial Wellbeing Model shows that the three constructs of trust, life stage and financial inclusion are important to the way AMW build financial capability. Age and income are depicted in two different pathways in the model as they are also significant factors in AMW’s ability to make short-term versus long-term financial decisions. Verbal persuasion and positive vicarious experiences were found to be the most influential sources of self-efficacy in superannuation decision-making. Source credibility (trustworthiness, familiarity, and expertise) is required for both positive vicarious experiences and verbal persuasion to have an impact, as well as convenience, for the latter. The two actions of combining superannuation accounts and changing investment options were undertaken by AMW due to these sources. Critically, verbal persuasion from a credible source, after an earlier negative vicarious experience, was found to strongly influence AMW to switch to a more aggressive superannuation investment strategy.
 
From a theoretical perspective, this study advances the marketing literature in three ways: 1) it extends prior research into financial wellbeing by adding to existing scholarship through the development of the Financial Wellbeing Model specific to how AMW engage with superannuation. The Financial Wellbeing Model for AMW may also lend itself to health interventions utilising a strengths-based approach to empower consumers, 2) the research reveals how the sources of self-efficacy influence the financial capability of AMW and how they may be nudged to make financial decisions about their superannuation, and finally 3) it builds on earlier findings that increased social marketing research in the field of financial capability may help to promote behaviour change, especially for younger people who might take actions that will contribute to their financial wellbeing. To policy and legislation, this research addresses two of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and has provided and may provide future insight into government-led financial capability strategy and programs. Finally, from a managerial standpoint, this research may be used to inform the superannuation industry and the higher education sector.