Nolan, John and Hogan, Teresa and Hayden, Michael (2024) Financial literacy practices on family farms. Journal of Rural Studies, 112. ISSN 0743-0167

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Abstract

Financial literacy has attracted significant interest in the past two decades with researchers predominantly focusing on two dimensions of its conceptualisation; knowledge and application. This paper answers calls for research on how context shapes financial literacy in Micro, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) using a practice framework drawn from established literacy theory. Financial literacy practices manifest in events and are influenced and shaped by social, cultural, temporal, technological, historical and institutional circumstances. This context-driven approach facilitates the examination of financial literacy in MSMEs where the owner-manager’s financial literacy is entwined with that of the enterprise’s practices. Using in-depth longitudinal case studies, we show how social and financial literacy practices on family farms are intrinsically interlinked and frame the timing of financial activities, the roles and tasks people undertake, the location where these activities occur, and how they are articulated. Institutional power relationships manifest in the disconnect between farm level financial literacy practices, many of which are informal and idiosyncratic, and those required by banks and government agencies. This power divide leads to frustration and sometimes apparent indifference to conducting more formal financial literacy practices. Temporality also emerges as a critical contextual factor. We identify the important moments in the farming calendar when farmers are focused on the financial aspects of the farm and propose that educational programmes aimed at improving the farmers’ financial literacy could be more effectively targeted using a social practice lens.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Financial literacy; Financial literacy practices; Literacy in context; Farm finance; Financial literacy practices in agriculture;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Business
Item ID:	19149
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2024.103468
Depositing User:	Michael Hayden
Date Deposited:	05 Nov 2024 12:05
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Rural Studies
Publisher:	Elsevier
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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