Fintech Use And Consumer Financial Well-Being Among Young Consumers In Saudi Arabia: The Role Of Digital Financial Literacy And Trust
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29284/nx9amw56Keywords:
FinTech use, Digital financial literacy, Trust in FinTech services, young consumers’ financial well-being, PLS-SEM, Saudi ArabiaAbstract
The rapid expansion of financial technologies (FinTech) has reshaped the delivery and use of financial services, raising important questions about their implications for financial well-being among young consumers. The effectiveness of FinTech is shaped not only by technological availability but also by users’ cognitive capabilities, trust perceptions, and behavioral engagement with digital financial services, which are particularly critical during early stages of financial independence. This study examines how the use of FinTech, digital financial literacy, and trust in FinTech services jointly influence young consumers’ financial well-being in the Saudi Arabian context. Specifically, the study investigates the direct effects of FinTech use and digital financial literacy, the role of trust in shaping FinTech use, and the moderating and indirect mechanisms linking these constructs. The study adopts a quantitative research design and employs Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to analyze survey data collected from young Saudi consumers. The measurement and structural models are rigorously assessed to ensure reliability, validity, and robustness of the proposed relationships. The findings reveal that FinTech use significantly enhances financial well-being among young consumers and that digital financial literacy plays a crucial role as both a direct determinant and a moderator, strengthening the positive impact of FinTech use. Trust in FinTech services significantly encourages FinTech use and indirectly improves financial well-being by increasing digital financial engagement. These results highlight that the benefits of FinTech are not automatic but depend on young consumers’ financial capabilities and confidence in digital financial systems. The study offers important implications for policymakers and practitioners in Saudi Arabia, underscoring the need to complement FinTech expansion with youth-oriented digital financial literacy initiatives and trust-enhancing regulatory frameworks to ensure that digital financial transformation contributes to sustainable improvements in young consumers’ financial well-being, in line with the objectives of Vision 2030.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
