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The 21st century witnessed rapid technological growth, and its impact is clearly visible in the world of money and finance. Fintech, which means those innovative financial services or products delivered via technology, is one of the fastest-growing segments in the technology industry (Chen, 2016). According to the Global Findex Database from World Bank Group (2017), around one-fifth of adults had mobile wallets, and more than half of the adults had made or received digital payments. However, the ‘new normal’ emerged as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic demands higher rates of adoption of digital tools and technology in finance. There was a huge disparity in the popularity of fintech and digital financial solutions among different generations before the pandemic due to the differences in their relative expertise and exposure to such products. The fear of spread of the disease during the pandemic has led to minimal visits to banks and ATM counters, and reduced the use of paper currency. Krivkovich et al. (2020) found that all fintech businesses grew since the crisis began, and people from all backgrounds started using them.
The usage of fintech tools is believed to grow in the future too, and it is important to ensure that everyone becomes its beneficiaries and no one is financially excluded in the digital era. Several groups of people face relative disadvantages when access to fintech and similar digital financial tools is considered. Friedline et al. (2019) state that the poor and the marginalised from rural communities have very little access to fintech. Another category that has limited access to fintech is the people born before the digital era, or “digital immigrants” as they are often called (Prensky, 2001). Digital financial inclusion is, thus, providing digital access to formal financial services to the excluded population. Access to digital financial services can promote financial inclusion by overcoming the institutional barriers of traditional finance and can increase the pace of financial inclusion by providing cost-effective financial services (Ghosh & Chaudhury, 2020). At the same time, digital financial literacy is an important prerequisite for digital financial inclusion.
Even though Baby Boomers and Generation X have gained enough knowledge and experience in managing different options in traditional finance, it is challenging for them to adapt to the revolutionary changes happening in the information technology sector. In families, younger generations enjoy greater expertise in digital technologies when compared to their parents (Ekström, 2007; Plowman et al., 2010; Setiawan et al., 2020). There arises the significance of reverse financial socialisation related to fintech products wherein children or younger generations act as socialising agents for their parents. When youngsters teach their parents how to access and use fintech products, it can improve parents' digital financial literacy, which then leads to digital financial inclusion. Older generations would, thus, be able to accept, adopt and use fintech products and services confidently.
However, there exists hardly any literature that specifically studied how reverse socialisation can be used as a tool to generate fintech knowledge and confidence among the digital immigrants. The present study aims to bridge this research gap by analysing how reverse fintech socialisation can be used as a remedy for digital financial exclusion. The researchers, in this study, assume that there is a positive relationship between the attitude of adults towards fintech products, reverse fintech socialisation occurring to them and their confidence in using such products. The effects of variables such as the age of the adult, age of the child, family income and income earner in the family are also evaluated in this study. This is the first study that attempts to connect variables such as attitude, reverse socialisation and confidence related to fintech usage. Therefore, it also aims to contribute to the present nascent literature in this area.