The level of university students' financial literacy has been discussed in Congress, opinion pieces in the media and the increasing level of student debt has been used to suggest their financial illiteracy. This study investigated the financial literacy of graduating university seniors by comparing their financial literacy level with their debt level. The difference in financial literacy levels of business majors, minors and non-business majors was assessed. The relationship between graduating university seniors' financial literacy level and their credit card and student loan debt was also reviewed. Gender, employment status, ethnicity, family income and college major were similarly examined to see if they were predictors of financial literacy levels and debt levels. Although financial literacy is frequently discussed in the national arena there is no clear definition of financial literacy; this ambiguity has led to multiple definitions. In this study, financial literacy was defined as "an individual's ability to obtain, understand, and evaluate the relevant information necessary to make decisions with an awareness of the likely financial consequences" (Mason & Wilson, 2000). The Jump$tart questionnaire (Mandell, 2004) was used to calculate participants' financial literacy level. The study found that the majority of the students had a high level of financial literacy with an average financial literacy score of 72.56% and with students majoring in business performing significantly better than non-business students. The use of debt level as an indicator of financial literacy level was found to be incorrect. No relationship was identified between financial literacy level and credit card debt or student loan debt. The study also found that demographic factors could not be used to predict financial literacy level and debt level. It was found that the majority of participants learned about managing money either on their own or at home from family members. More than half of the participants expressed an interest in taking a personal finance class but less than 20% were aware that this course was offered at their university. More effective methods are recommended to ensure that students become more aware such courses being offered on campus.

Governments around the world are investing heavily in smart card infrastructure to enhance transport services. Studies show that smart card technology can improve reliability, reduce maintenance costs, provide a longer life span, and allow more applications to be incorporated in a transit card. As a result, policy makers and transport owners are interested in extending the use of smart cards from transit to non-transit systems to capitalise on their investment. However, little is known about the conditions under which customers would adopt transit cards for non-transit transactions. In Singapore, a contactless transit smart card (ez-link card) was launched in April 2002 to replace the magnetic stored-value card, which was commissioned in December 1990. The ez-link card was introduced as an integrated public transport card for use both on buses and Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) trains. This study was undertaken to evaluate customers' response to the use of the ez-link card for non-transit transactions. As the ez-link card is an information technology (IT) product and the first of its kind in the Singapore public transport system, there is a need to understand and appreciate how customers would respond to the change in its use. Various theories and models such as the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Theory of Diffusion (TD), Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) and Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) were reviewed for their potential to understand and predict customers' intentions to use the ez-link card for non-transit transactions. After much review, the TPB was adopted for identifying the research model and hypotheses in this study. The TPB was used to develop the research model and hypotheses comprising one dependent variable (intention – INT) and three independent variables (attitude - ATT, subjective norm - SN and perceived behavioral control - PBC). The TPB was also used to design the questionnaire comprising 16 items to collect data from customers using the ez-link card at bus interchanges and train stations located around Singapore. A pilot survey was conducted on 21 respondents using the intercept interview technique. The data were collected and analysed. With slight modifications, the questionnaire was then used with 300 respondents in the final survey. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the data collected from 293 respondents (seven were outliers) using the intercept interview technique in the final survey. Regression analysis explained 80% of the variance in the customers' intention to use the ez-link card for non-transit transactions. While the results provided initial support for the TPB, further examination of the data using exploratory factor analysis revealed high correlations between the ATT and SN. This study concluded that a more parsimonious model would only extract two independent variables (Desirability - DES and Perceived Convenience – PEC) to predict customers' intention to use the ez-link card for non-transit transactions. DES and PEC were used to develop a new

Rapid digitalisation development has been stampeding widely across today’s societies, and not least in the payment industry. Though, the digitalisation in the payment industry has been very deviating, even between similar well-developed countries, and while there are positive and negative effects with both digital- and physical payment means, there is little knowledge that highlights the influencing factors and accompanied problems. This study therefore explore swhich, and how, different factors influence a country’s degree of digital payments, and creates further understanding of where the payment markets are heading in the future. It is done through a case study of four different industrialised countries, Sweden, Italy, Canada, and Switzerland which involves mapping the countries’ payment markets, as well as potential factors influencing a population’s payment habits, through a perspective of innovation theory in terms of dominant designs and technological discontinuities. Theory of network externalities and two-sided platforms are further used to explain and discuss how a two-sided market, likethe payment market, is affected by changes and other circumstances in different ways.Conclusions are then drawn from the used theories together with a comparison of the findings,and identifies certain influencers to a country’s distribution of payments, as well as provides indications of where the different payments markets are heading in the future. Data is mainly gathered through written material and credible databases, but also from semi-structured interviews. / Den snabba digitaliseringen har slagit sig fram i dagens samhällen, och inte minst i betalningsindustrin. Dock har digitaliseringen i betalningsindustrin varit mycket avvikande mellan liknande välutvecklade länder, och medan det finns positiva och negativa effekter med både digitala och fysiska betalningsmedel, finns det inte mycket kunskap om påverkandefaktorer och medföljande problem. Denna studie undersöker därför vilka, och hur, olika faktorer påverkar ett lands grad av digitala betalningar, och vidare skapar ytterligare förståelse för var betalningsmarknaderna är på väg framöver. Detta görs genom en fallstudie av fyra olika industrialiserade länder, Sverige, Italien, Kanada och Schweiz, som innebär en kartläggning av ländernas betalningsmarknader, och av potentiella faktorer som påverkar befolkningens betalningsvanor, genom ett perspektiv från innovationsteori i form av dominerande design och tekniska diskontinuiteter. Teori om nätverksexternaliteter och tvåsidiga plattformar används vidare för att förklara och diskutera hur en tvåsidig marknad som betalningsmarknadenpåverkas av förändringar och andra omständigheter. Slutsatser dras sedan från de användateorierna tillsammans med en jämförelse av resultaten och identifierar påverkande faktorer tillett lands betalningsdistribution, samt ger indikationer på var de olika betalningsmarknaderna är på väg framöver. Data samlades huvudsakligen in genom skriftligt material och från tillförlitliga databaser, men även från semistrukturerade intervjuer.