Dynamics of Locus of Control, Financial Knowledge, Financial Behaviour and Financial Position: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Qatar has witnessed significant economic growth since 2008 with Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increasing by about 10 percent annually on an average, and it is consistently listed among the richest nations in the world since then. A study on the financial behaviour of the Qatari nationals would reveal their role in this achievement. This research tests the hypothesis that the locus of control, income, financial knowledge, financial behaviour and financial position of the citizens are causally related. The research methodology is typical to the empirical studies using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The evidence collected from randomly chosen 204 respondents supported five out of seven hypotheses which indicated that internal locus of control, financial knowledge, financial behaviour and financial position were causally related. For policy implementation, it is imperative that household of a country should be educated in terms of financial knowledge to control the financial behaviour which affects the financial position.