A Qualitative Study of African American Women's Learning Experiences in Financial Literacy Courses

Abstract

Although the United States is witnessing rising employment since the 2020 global pandemic, there are still significant numbers of Americans (most of whom are women and individuals of color) who are facing financial fragility. Financial literacy education (FLE) can equip individuals with the necessary knowledge to change their financial behavior. There has been little research focused on what motivates African American women to change their financial behavior and how FLE contributes to their financial self-efficacy/competency, relatedness, and autonomy. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences of African American women who participate in FLE. Culturally responsive teaching, self-efficacy theory, and self-determination theory formed the conceptual framework which guided this study.

Participants included 16 African American adult women who had participated in at least one financial literacy course. The data collection process involved semi-structured interviews comprised of open-ended questions and probing questions. I used the constant comparative coding method for data analysis.

The participants’ experiences were categorized into (a) motivation to participate, (b) contributions to financial self-efficacy/competency, and (c) development of relatedness and autonomy. Themes included (a) development across the motivation spectrum, (b) sources of financial self-efficacy/competency, (c) community builds relatedness, (d) significance of sociocultural factors and oppressive, structural inequities on an African American woman’s autonomy, and (e) teacher behaviors and pedagogical tools that support relatedness and autonomy. Finally, culturally responsive teaching was identified as a critical piece in an African American woman’s financial behavior change. The findings have implications for practice by organizations and educators as well as future research.