FINANCIAL LITERACY, DIGITAL FINANCIAL SERVICES AND RETIREMENT SAVINGS BEHAVIOUR AMONG STAFF OF TAI SOLARIN UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION, OGUN STATE

Abstract

This study examined the effect of financial literacy and digital financial services (DFS) on retirement savings behaviour (RSB) among staff of Tai Solarin University of Education (TASUED), Ogun State. A survey research design was adopted, with data collected from 344 academic and administrative staff using a structured questionnaire. Financial literacy was disaggregated into four dimensions: financial knowledge (FK), financial behaviour (FB), financial attitude (FA), and financial decision-making (FDM), while DFS served as a moderating variable. Hierarchical regression analysis was employed to test the direct and moderating effects. Results show that financial behaviour (β = 0.541, p < 0.001) and financial attitude (β = 0.400, p < .001) are the strongest positive predictors of retirement savings behaviour, while financial knowledge exerted a significant negative effect (β = −0.176, p = 0.001). Digital financial services did not directly influence RSB (β = −0.026, p = 0.608), but significantly moderated the relationship between financial knowledge and RSB (β = 0.216, p = 0.040) and between financial behaviour and RSB (β = 0.261, p = 0.037). The study concludes that behavioural and attitudinal dimensions of financial literacy are the primary drivers of retirement savings, and that DFS amplifies the effect of key literacy components. It is recommended that TASUED management develop behaviour-focused financial literacy programmes and integrate digital financial services training into staff capacity-building initiatives.