Finance Culture: An Analysis of Cultural Perception of Money among the Young Generation

The economic actors` behavior could not be understood in isolation, without considering the influence of cultural factors. Although there has been less attention paid to the role of culture in economic activism, it is of strategic importance, especially among the youth because culture can affect their behavior valuation, behavior purpose, and behavior standard. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to investigate the cultural perception of money among the young generation. Analysis is based on a subtype of qualitative method content analysis of the interviews. The study population includes young economic activists aged between 18 and 32 years. The targeted sampling is based on criteria and non-homogeneous method, reaching the theoretical saturation point with 12 subjects. Data are collected using semi-structured interviews. The credibility of the collected data is confirmed by credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability indexes, as well as by in depth description, reference to interviewees, and two encoders. The findings show that money is culturally perceived as an end, an indicator of social conflict, an alternative to happiness, and a benchmark for social credibility among the young generation; on the other hand, these perceptions could be attributed to priority of money function over money usage, educational conflict, the dominance of thrift, overview of values and money-based identity, will power, the social trap of money, and the ambiguity within monetary authorities. In general, findings show that ambiguity and contradiction in young people's understanding has caused the perception of money to be changed compared to the past, enriching its function.