Understanding Digital Financial Practices through Trust Among French Young Adults
Adopting Lahire’s dispositionalist framework (Lahire, 2013), I investigate how economic dispositions, digitalisation context and risk perception (Borraz, 2007) shape young adults’ online financial practices, while highlighting the role of trust in this process. Employing mixed methods, I conduct thirty semi-structured interviews to explore the construction of trust in traditional banks and digital financial services (DFS), and its influence on the online financial practices of young adults. Furthermore, I apply hierarchical cluster analysis to French data from the 2021 EU survey on the use of Information and Communication Technologies in households and by individuals. Using variables related to digital financial practices, I create clusters to identify patterns and disparities among young adults.
Findings suggest that engagement with DFS is not just age-related, but correlated with economic resources, broader digital practices, and professional digital integration. Results show that beyond economic dispositions, digital financial practices are influenced by trust and risk perception. It also highlights the innovative use of DFS by some young adults, distrusting traditional banking institutions. Moreover, this study challenges the concept of digital and financial literacy (Lyons & Kass-Hanna, 2021), advocating for a broader understanding of digital financial practices. It also contributes to research on the "privacy paradox" unraveling the risk-benefit assessments young adults undertake in online financial transactions.