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Financial literacy for women and the role of financial education: an exploratory study of promising practices

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Financial literacy for women and the role of financial education: an exploratory study of promising practices

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Content Running head: FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

Financial Literacy for Women and the Role of Financial Education:
An Exploratory Study of Promising Practices

by

Daralee S. Barbera

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

August 2019

Copyright 2019 Daralee Barbera
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

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Acknowledgements
My gratitude to Dr. Helena Seli, Dr. Courtney Malloy, and Dr. Doug Lynch for serving on my
dissertation committee. Additional thanks to Dr. Doug Lynch for introducing me to The Doctor
of Education in Organizational Change and Leadership program at USC. My appreciation to my
husband, Laurence, for his support through this doctoral journey, as well as to my encouraging
children Gianni and Desirae, and to my family and friends. My appreciation to the financial
services professionals who contributed to this study through their invaluable insights and support
for financial education and financial literacy for women.

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Table of Contents
Abstract ................................................................................................................................ 8
Chapter One: Introduction .................................................................................................. 9
Organizational Context and Mission ............................................................................. 9
Organizational Goal ..................................................................................................... 11
Related Literature ........................................................................................................ 12
Importance of the Study .............................................................................................. 13
Description of Stakeholder Groups ............................................................................. 14
Stakeholder Groups’ Performance Goals .................................................................... 14
Stakeholder Group for the Study ................................................................................. 15
Purpose of the Project and Questions .......................................................................... 15
Methodological Approach and Rationale .................................................................... 16
Definitions ................................................................................................................... 18
Organization of the Project .......................................................................................... 19
Chapter Two: Review of Literature .................................................................................. 20
Influences on Financial Education and Financial Literacy for Women ...................... 20
The Elements of Financial Literacy ...................................................................... 21
The Impact on Individuals, Families, and Society. ................................................ 21
The Role of Financial Education. .......................................................................... 23
Historic perspective and current conditions. ......................................................... 23
Programming considerations. ................................................................................ 24
The role of private sector financial services providers. ......................................... 24
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The Role of Financial Advisors ................................................................................... 25
Clark and Estes’ (2008) Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences
Framework ....................................................................................................... 26
Financial Advisors’ Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences ............. 26
Knowledge Influences ........................................................................................... 27
Motivational Influences ......................................................................................... 32
Organizational Influences ...................................................................................... 35
Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Financial Advisors’ Knowledge,
Motivation, and the Organizational Context ................................................... 40
Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 44
Chapter Three: Methods .................................................................................................... 46
Primary Participating Stakeholders ............................................................................. 46
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale ........................................................... 47
Interview Sampling (Recruitment) Strategy and Rationale ................................... 47
Secondary Participating Stakeholders ......................................................................... 49
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale ........................................................... 49
Interview Sampling (Recruitment) Strategy and Rationale ................................... 50
Data Collection and Instrumentation ........................................................................... 50
Interviews .............................................................................................................. 50
Documents and Artifacts ....................................................................................... 52
Data Analysis .............................................................................................................. 53
Credibility and Trustworthiness .................................................................................. 54
Ethics ......................................................................................................................... 56
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Limitations and Delimitations ..................................................................................... 57
Chapter Four: Findings ..................................................................................................... 60
Participating Stakeholders ........................................................................................... 61
Findings ....................................................................................................................... 62
Financial Advisor Knowledge Findings ................................................................ 63
Financial Advisor Motvation Findings .................................................................. 75
Interaction between Financial Advisor Knowledge, Motivation, and
Organizational Influences .......................................................................... 79
Document Analysis ................................................................................................ 86
Chapter Five: Recommendations ..................................................................................... 90
Rcoomendations for Practice to Address KMO Influences ......................................... 92
Knowledge Recommendations .............................................................................. 92
Motivation Recommendations ............................................................................... 98
Organization Recommendations .......................................................................... 101
Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan ....................................................... 107
Implementation and Evaluation Framework ....................................................... 107
Organizational Purpose, Need and Expectations ................................................. 107
Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators ............................................................. 109
Level 3: Behavior ................................................................................................ 111
Level 2: Learning ................................................................................................ 115
Level 1: Reaction ................................................................................................. 118
Evaluation Tools .................................................................................................. 119
Data Analysis and Reporting ............................................................................... 121
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Summary .............................................................................................................. 122
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Approach .............................................................. 124
Future Research ......................................................................................................... 126
Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 127
References ....................................................................................................................... 130
Appendix A: Interview Protocol for Financial Advisor Practitioners ............................ 137
Appendix B: Interview Protocol for Organizational Leadership .................................... 142
Appendix C: Document and Artifact Analysis Protocol ................................................. 145
Appendix D: Immediate Evaluation for Level 1 and Level 2 ......................................... 148
Appendix E: Delayed Evaluation for Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 ................ 151
Appendix F: Data Analysis and Reporting ...................................................................... 154
Table 1: Organizational and Stakeholder Performance Goals ........................................... 14
Table 2: Knowledge Influences, Types, and Assessments for Knowledge Gap
Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 31
Table 3: Motivational Influences and Assessments for Motivation Gap Analysis ............ 35
Table 4: Organizational Influences .................................................................................... 39
Table 5: Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations ............................... 93
Table 6: Summary of Motivational Influences and Recommendations ............................ 98
Table 7: Summary of Organizational Influences and Recommendations ....................... 102
Table 8: Outcomes, Metrics, and methods for External and Internal Outcomes ............. 109
Table 9: Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation ................... 112
Table 10: Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors .............................................. 113
Table 11: Evaluation of the Components of Learning for the Program .......................... 117
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Table 12: Components to Measure Reactions to the Program ......................................... 119
Figure 1: Interactive conceptual framework for financial literacy for women .................. 42

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Abstract
Financial literacy involves learning to be an informed and effective financial decision maker,
requiring adaptable skills that can adjust to age, health, income, wealth, needs, and personal
goals. Financial education can provide financial knowledge which can inform financial literacy.
Research shows that women test as less financially literate than men (Prast & van Soest, 2016).
As women control the majority of wealth and make the majority of financial decisions, this study
explored the financial advisors’ and financial services companies’ practice of providing financial
education to women. The stakeholders of focus were financial advisors who had client facing
practices where financial education for women was a part of their business model. The purpose
of this study was to explore the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that impact
financial advisors’ ability to provide financial educational programing to female clients. The
study explored the professional practices of financial advisors to determine how client access to
financial education best fit into their business models, and if there was ongoing engagement in
financial education by female clients. The study also explored the impact of organizational
support from financial services companies for financial education for women. The study
methodology was qualitative and consisted of interviews with financial advisors, interviews with
financial services executive leadership, and analysis of relevant artifacts and documents. The
study culminated with recommendations to support financial advisors in their practice of
delivering financial education to women with the goal of improving their financial literacy,
illuminating the role of private sector financial services providers.
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Chapter One: Introduction
Women test as less financially literate than men yet have tremendous financial decision-
making responsibilities for themselves and their families (Prast & van Soest, 2016). Financial
literacy is a growing demand for women, as women’s finances are strained by lower lifetime
savings due to shortened and interrupted careers (Chen & V olpe, 2002), greater average
longevity than men, and greater resulting demands on retirement resources (Lusardi & Mitchell,
2011b). Women are in need of financial skills as they control the majority of personal wealth in
America (BMO Financial Group, 2015). Financial education has been shown to lead to financial
literacy, leading to important retirement planning (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2011b). Financial
knowledge positively influences wealth and financial capacity, and as such exemplifies the
importance of removing obstacles to being financially informed (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2007a).
Financial advisors are a resource for access to financial information, as they often provide
financial education for women to help build their financial literacy and personal financial
decision-making skills.
Organizational Context and Mission
The organization of focus for this study was a collection of professional practices of a
select group of financial advisors. The pseudonym assigned was FASW, Financial Advisors
Serving Women, as these financial advisors had a focus on including women in their clientele.
Although the FASW was a fictitious organization, it consisted of real financial advisors who
were studied for this research project. Financial advisors are professionals who provide
investment, insurance, and advisory services to clients. Advisory services can address risk
management, cash reserves, cash flow, wealth accumulation, taxes, estate planning, retirement,
income, investments, and financial planning. The financial advisors included in this study
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worked with the demographic of women, in an established face-to-face relationship model, and
provided them with financial education. Practices varied in regard to age and size of the
operation, number of clients, their particular products and services, and their specific value-
propositions. The financial advisors comprising FASW were the population of advisors studied
by this research project. These advisors were included in FASW as they were either identified as
qualified by their parent company, self-nominated for inclusion in this study and found to be
qualified or nominated by another financial services professional as having met the criteria for
selection.
The financial advisors in FASW had parent company relationships which were with
financial services companies who may have served as broker-dealers who provided compliance
oversight, supervision, licensing, products, training, development, marketing support, and
approval of advisor activities. Financial services companies had many commonalities, but were
often unique with their own cultures, missions, and definitions of service. Companies were
further categorized as fraternal, multi-line, traditional life, independent, wire-house, or
Registered Investment Advisor (RIA). As this segmentation further influenced the financial
advisor’s organization, advisors representing all of these types of financial services companies
were included. Although there are over 200,000 personal financial advisors (U.S. Department of
Labor, 2017), the financial advisors in this study had in common a mission and organizational
business model which included serving the financial needs of women and providing financial
education. These advisors were located in the United States.
The financial advisor can play a very important role in the lives of their clients. Financial
advisors provide investments, insurance, and advice to their clients, and they are typically an
important and central resource during most of life’s benchmark moments. Whether it is buying a
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new car, selling a home, having a baby, going to college, saving for retirement, getting a divorce,
or the death of a loved one, money will be a factor and financial advisors are looked to for
financial guidance tailored to the situation. Financially educated clients are better equipped to
make informed choices than clients who are financial uninformed. The financial advisors in this
study provided financial education to their clients as part of their organizational structure. This
study examined the nature of these programs.
Organizational Goal
The organizational goal explored for FASW advisors was the degree to which their
female clients were engaged in ongoing financial education. An operational ideal and
benchmark goal for this study was that the majority of female clients, at least 51%, participated
in an initial financial education activity and followed up with a subsequent activity at least
annually, by 2020. The goal of 51% symbolically represented the majority of clients and was not
an actual goal of FASW. This educational activity could be evidenced by a personalized financial
plan or financial education coursework, as financial education could include seminars,
workshops, classes, workbooks, online curriculum, informational feeds, skill-building activities,
and individualized curriculum such as a personalized financial plan. Access to financial
education is important for women, as women have been shown to test as less financially literate
than men (Prast &van Soest, 2016). It is important to remove the obstacles to being financially
informed, as financial knowledge positively influences wealth and financial capacity (Lusardi &
Mitchell, 2007a). Financial education has been found to positively impact financial literacy
(Lusardi & Mitchell, 2011a). It was the organizational goal of FASW financial advisors to
provide financial education to female clients as a gateway to becoming better educated and hence
more informed financial decision-makers, leading to increased financial literacy.
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Related Literature
Financial literacy is not an absolute state, but a continuum of abilities that are impacted
by age, family, culture, and residence, involving competent responses to facilitate change in
personal and economic circumstances (Cohen & Nelson, 2011). A Prudential 2013 study showed
that although 53% of women were the primary income earner, they were half as likely as men to
feel well-prepared to make financial decisions, and only one-in-ten felt knowledgeable about
financial products and services (Insured Retirement Institute, 2013). Women control $14 trillion
in wealth, or 51% of personal wealth in the US, and are expected to control $22 trillion by 2020
(BMO Financial Group, 2015). According to Fleishman-Hillard, this represents two-thirds of
consumer wealth (GAMA, General Agents and Managers Association, Foundation for Education
and Research, 2015), thus increasing the decision-making demands on women, and hence their
need for financial skills, knowledge, and literacy. Lack of financial literacy for women is a global
problem in all countries where the average level of knowledge is relatively high; women are less
financially knowledgeable than men (Atkinson & Messy, 2012). Women have less economic
mobility and financial stability than their male peers (Meier & Sprenger, 2013). Financial
education is a pressing concern for women of all ages, as women often face great financial
responsibilities.
Effective retirement planning for women is directly related to financial education and its
impact on financial literacy. Planning for the future presents difficulty as many Americans do not
know how much they will need in retirement, and are saving too little for retirement (Hilgert,
Hogarth, & Beverly, 2003). Lusardi & Mitchell (2008) state the critical role of financial literacy
is supported by strong evidence that literacy causes planning and not the reverse (Lusardi &
Mitchell, 2008). Women are particularly vulnerable to old-age-poverty as they are less
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financially literate, and therefore poorer at planning. Women who are less financially literate than
men are less likely to plan for retirement, and less likely to be successful planners; where
knowledge and planning are closely related, women who display higher financial literacy are
more likely to plan. Financial literacy plays an important role and has been shown to positively
impact retirement planning capability. Critical access for women to financial education positively
impacts financial literacy and decision-making capabilities impacting long term planning.
Importance of the Study
It is important to explore the capacity of FASW to effectively deliver financial education
to female clients as its impact on financial literacy can be far reaching. The unique challenges
that women face, including longevity, lower lifetime earnings, interrupted careers, less
opportunity to save for retirement, and family responsibilities, make financial education and
literacy even more important (BMO Financial Group, 2015). Low levels of financial literacy
may lead to poor health, decreased quality of life, and lower college attainment levels (Harnish,
2010). Financial literacy is considered the key to financial wellbeing by many economists and
policymakers (Meier & Sprenger, 2013) and critical to retirement security (Lusardi & Mitchell,
2011a). Developing financial literacy through personalized financial support systems which
provide specific advice as needed, resulting in tailored financial behaviors, is recommended over
general financial education (Fernandes, Lynch, & Netemeyer, 2014). The availability of financial
education for women provides access to much needed financial information and advice, which
has been shown to help improve financial confidence, competence, and literacy, with positive
implications for the financial success of women, their families, and their communities.

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Description of Stakeholder Groups
There are three groups of stakeholders involved in the organization of focus: financial
advisors, clients, and the companies. These three groups contribute to, and benefit from, the
achievement of the organizational goal to effectively deliver financial education to women. The
financial services companies, which are the parent companies for the financial advisors, are
important stakeholders. Their support for educational programming is critical and the level of
support will impact the ease with which advisors can access resources. The degree to which the
advisor is successful in delivering education, and affecting positive indications of literacy for the
learners, benefits the parent company; a client who is a more capacitated learner is more
knowledgeable and better equipped to engage and transact. The clients are the learners who are
the individual women participating in the financial education programming whose improved
financial literacy is the sought-after end-result. The financial advisors, FASW, were the
stakeholders of focus for this study. They operated client-facing practices and delivered
education to the learners, providing field execution of educational programs for women with the
goal of financial literacy improvement increasing capacity for financial decision-making.
Stakeholder Groups’ Performance Goals
Table 1
Organizational and Stakeholder Performance Goals
Organizational Performance Goal

By 2020, financial advisors will facilitate active involvement in financial education activities
for at least 51% of their female clients, as evidenced by personalized financial planning or
engagement in financial education coursework.
Financial Services
Companies

Financial Advisors

Women Attending Financial
Education Classes

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By 2020, the leadership of
financial services companies
will support financial
advisors with financial
education programming
which is appropriate for
delivery to female audiences.
By 2020, financial advisors
will facilitate active
engagement in financial
education activities for at
least 51% of female clients,
as evidenced by personalized
financial planning or
engagement in personal
financial education at least
annually.

By 2020, at least 51% of
women that are clients of
financial advisors with female
focused practices and face-to-
face business models, will be
actively engaged in financial
education activities to include
personalized financial
planning or other financial
educational programming, no
less frequently than annually.

Stakeholder Group for the Study
Although there are three groups of stakeholders, financial advisors who deliver female-
centric financial education were the group of focus. These financial advisors had face-to-face
relationship models and were considered by their companies to represent advisors serving female
clients. The financial advisors represented a variety of organizational structures to include multi-
line companies, traditional life insurers, independent broker-dealers, fraternal organizations, wire
houses, and registered investment advisors. The financial advisor practices varied in size from
sole-practitioner to being part of a team. The length of service for the financial advisors was
targeted at three or more years. The client-advisor relationship model was common to all, as the
advisors knew their clients personally.
Purpose of the Project and Questions
The purpose of this study was to understand the advisors’ capacity to guide female clients
in attaining information regarding personal financial planning topics and to contribute to their
financial education in order to impact their financial literacy. The financial education programs
provided by financial advisors were examined. The purpose of the project was to explore the
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

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degree to which the FASW financial advisors achieved the benchmark goal of 51% active
engagement in financial education for female clients, where 51% symbolically represented the
majority of clients. The analysis focused on knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences related to goal attainment for the stakeholder based on the Clark and Estes’ (2008)
framework. There were three groups of stakeholders: the financial services companies, financial
advisors who provide financial education for their female clients, and the clients who are women
seeking to learn more about personal financial planning topics that can be applied in their lives.
While the complete study would focus on all stakeholders, for practical purposes, the stakeholder
of focus in this analysis were the financial advisors who provided the education to the learner. As
such, the questions that guided this study were:
1. What is the financial advisors’ knowledge and motivation related to facilitating active
engagement in financial education activities by their female clients?
2. What is the interaction between organizational culture and context and financial advisors’
knowledge and motivation?
3. What are the recommendations for organizational practice in the areas of knowledge,
motivation, and organizational resources?
Methodological Approach and Rationale
The methodological approach utilized for this study was qualitative. Qualitative research
informs the understanding of how people interpret their experiences, how their world is
constructed, and the meaning attributed to their experiences (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The
research approach involved conducting interviews with two different stakeholder groups and
collection of documents and artifacts. These three sources of data integrated to answer the
study’s questions. The interviews yielded open-ended, qualitative data. The analysis of
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documents and artifacts provided context from an organizational perspective. Combining two
types of data enables more in-depth understanding of the research problem (Creswell, 2014). The
two types combined create a fuller picture of the current-status of the problem of practice in the
financial services industry.
This study design focused only on a specific aspect of the organization, which was
financial education for women. Document and artifact collection and interviews yielded
qualitative data, where qualitative research is an emphasis on the qualities of entities and on
processes and meanings in terms of quantity, amount, intensity, or frequency, stressing the
socially constructed nature of reality, and the situational constraints that shape the inquiry
(Denzin & Lincoln, 2008). The participants for the study were purposefully selected from
stakeholders who had experience in delivering financial education to women. Two groups were
interviewed. The primary group of participants were financial advisors who served the female
demographic and offer financial education, who represented the stakeholder of focus for this
study. The second group interviewed were executive leaders from financial services companies
who had exhibited an established history of serving women, had identifiable initiatives, had
support systems for these programs, and had reportable successes. Artifacts and documents from
these companies were analyzed for their internal and external messaging in regard to women and
education. The inductive process of the qualitative design generated findings used to understand
the financial education process at firms who were female-oriented. These findings were used to
answer the three research questions and to make recommendations to improve the facilitation of
financial education for women.

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Definitions
Broker-dealer: A financial services company serving as a parent company for a financial
advisor, where the securities relationship is exclusive.
Face-to-face: A professional practice design where the financial advisor knows their
clients and has personal relationships with them. This is in contrast to a distribution model where
services are provided impersonally, such as online or via call center, without professional advice.
Financial literacy: A set of skills and knowledge that help an individual to make better
informed and effective financial decisions.
Firm: The operational structure under which the financial advisor performs their duties.
Fraternal: A financial services company that is affiliated with a religious organization or
type of membership or social organization.
Home office: A common term used to refer to the headquarters of a parent company.
Independent broker-dealer: A financial services company who primarily offers back-
office support for financial advisors.
Learner: The participant who is a student in financial educational programming.
Market place: A reference to members of a particular demographic group to include
clients and non-clients.
Multi-line: A financial services company that offers insurance products to include auto
and homeowner protection.
Parent company: The company that holds the registrations of the financial advisor. The
term is sometimes used interchangeably with broker-dealer, firm, or home office.
Registered Investment Advisor (RIA): A financial services provider whose revenue is
based on a fee structure, which typically includes a fee for advice.
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Sandwich generation: People who support their aging parents or grandparents at the same
time as supporting their own children.
Traditional life insurer: A financial services company whose baseline business is
traditionally designed around the life insurance products produced by the insurer.
Wire-house: A financial services company whose services include a large focus on the
trading of securities.
Organization of the Project
Five chapters organize this study. This chapter provided the reader with the key concepts
and terminology commonly found in a discussion about financial literacy and the impact of
financial education. The organizational goals and stakeholders, as well as the review of the study
framework, was provided. Chapter Two provides a review of current literature surrounding the
scope of the study. Topics of influences on financial education and financial literacy for women
will be addressed to include knowledge, motivation, and organizational elements. Chapter Three
examines methodology when it comes to the choice of participants, data collection, and analysis.
In Chapter Four, the data and findings are described and analyzed. Chapter Five provides
recommendation for practice, based on data and literature as well as recommendations for an
implementation and evaluation plan.

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Chapter Two: Review of the Literature
The literature review examined the impact of financial literacy for women and the role of
financial education. The review begins with general research on financial literacy, providing
further definition and understanding. This is followed by an overview of literature covering the
impact of financial illiteracy on individuals, families, and society. The review presents an in-
depth discussion of the impact that financial advisors can have on financial education and the
characteristics of these educational programs. This section includes current research on the
necessary components of effective financial education. Following the general research literature,
the review turns to a discussion of the stakeholder of focus, which is the financial advisor. The
review next addresses the Clark and Estes’ Gap Analysis Framework and, specifically,
knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences on financial advisors’ ability to implement
effective financial education for women which leads to financial literacy. A conceptual
framework is presented which leads to the chapter’s conclusion.
Influences on Financial Education and Financial Literacy for Women
While Chapter One addressed the impact of financial education and financial illiteracy
for women, this section addresses the factors, variables, and causes that influence financial
education and financial literacy for women. Defining the elements of financial literacy is
foundational. The impact of financial literacy on individuals, families and society helps
illuminate the role of financial education. A look at historic perspectives is helpful to understand
current conditions. Programming considerations pave the way for the role of private sector
financial services providers.

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The Elements of Financial Literacy
Financial literacy involves learning to be an informed and effective financial decision
maker, requiring adaptable skills that can adjust to age, health, income, wealth, needs, and
personal goals and objectives. Cohen and Nelson (2011) found financial literacy to not be an
absolute state, but a continuum of abilities which are impacted by personal socio-economics,
involving competent responses to facilitate change in one’s own personal set of financial
circumstances. Financial circumstances are often the result of how well one is able to plan, set
goals, and have a vision of the future. The ability to make a financial plan can be reliant on the
degree to which one has acquired financial literacy, as there is a causal effect of financial literacy
on financial planning (Lusardi, 2008). Financial literacy is considered by economists to be the
key to financial well-being (Meier & Sprenger, 2013). Financial literacy is complex and is
defined relative to the individual, as it involves knowledge and application which results in
economic change.
The Impact on Individuals, Families, and Society
There is tremendous need for gender-appropriate financial guidance, financial education,
financial decision-making methodologies, skills, and techniques, as women often have the
primary responsibility for family financial matters, making and modeling financial decisions
which can impact society. Financial literacy has implications that extend beyond the affected
individual, as low levels of financial literacy may lead to poor health, decreased quality of life,
and lower college attainment levels (Harnish, 2010). College-aged women were found by Chen
and V olpe (2002) to have lower financial management skills than men, as well as lower interest
in personal financial topics. Women have increased longevity, lower lifetime earnings,
interrupted careers, less opportunity to save for retirement, and heightened family responsibilities
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

22
(BMO Financial Group, 2015). Career interruptions can occur as women often assume caregiver
roles for both older and younger individuals, putting their careers on hold while they take
timeout to care for others. Low financial literacy skills for women impacts financial decision-
making abilities which impacts their tremendous financial responsibilities (Prast & van Soest,
2016), as women are often primarily responsible for the family finances, making the majority of
decisions. These decisions have impact on all the stakeholders who rely on the individual, often
impacting multiple generations, as financial behaviors are modeled for children and often
become the inherited family methodology for financial decision-making.
Effective retirement planning is particularly important for women as they live longer,
have lower lifetime earnings, and need to place additional strain on retirement resources due to
their longevity (BMO Financial Group, 2015). Financial literacy is critical to retirement security,
as retirement security has been shown to result from planning and financial education is
important as it is a vehicle to retirement planning skills (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2011b). Effective
retirement planning, facilitated by financial literacy skills, decreases the strain on public
resources and dependence on family and friends (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2009). Low levels of
financial literacy may lead to poor health and decreased quality of life (Harnish, 2010). Financial
education has been found to positively impact financial literacy (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2011a),
where financial literacy is considered the key to financial wellbeing by many economists and
policymakers (Meier & Sprenger, 2013). Financial knowledge positively influences wealth and
financial capacity (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2007a), with positive implications for retirement
planning.

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The Role of Financial Education
Financial education can provide a gateway to financial knowledge which can inform and
impact financial literacy. Financial knowledge removes barriers to being financially informed
and financial education has positive influence on financial capacity and wealth (Lusardi &
Mitchell, 2007b). A focus on financial education is important as financial education has been
found to impact financial literacy (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2011). Financial education as the key to
fighting financial ignorance is most effective for women when it accommodates their specialized
delivery needs (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2008). Access to financial education for women is important
and can have positive economic impact on the life of the individual, as well as on the lives of
those who have financial reliance on them.
Historic perspective and current conditions. Research on the effectiveness of financial
education programs is relatively new, limited, and the overall evidence in favor of financial
education is unclear (Hathaway & Khatiwada, 2008). According to Prewett (2015), there are
information gaps regarding historical and structural characteristics of programs for financial
education, with most programs implemented after 2007 and varying greatly by institution.
Assessment of financial literacy programming is sparsely represented in the literature, as
evaluation standards are inconsistent and measuring effectiveness of financial education is not
easy (Lyons, Palmer, Koralalage, Jayaratne, & Scherpf, 2006). The study in 2006 addressed gaps
in the literature, surveying 387 financial education programs, resulting in a recommendation to
create a consistent evaluation standard to measure changes in financial behavior (Lyons, Palmer,
Jayaratne, & Scherpf, 2006). Also addressing gaps in the literature regarding evaluation of
programs, Hathaway and Khatiwada (2008) recommended that program design be included in
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

24
the evaluation and that programs be taught and based on a financial event, proximate to the
occurrence, in order to effectively include change in behavior as evaluation criterion.
Programming considerations. Creation, design, and delivery impacts the effectiveness
of financial education. Financial education alone is not enough to impact financial literacy and
practical tools are required that can be applied in real life situations (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2007b).
Financial education is optimal when relevant and useful, where quality of delivery impacts the
success of the program (Cohen & Nelson, 2011). Community-based delivery of financial
education can boost financial literacy, as it promotes personal responsibility. Localized delivery
helps when serving vulnerable populations, as it connects course content as applicable to daily
needs and improved financial choices (Harnish, 2010). As women test lower in financial literacy,
gender appropriateness is important and helpful to enhance learning, where gender biased
content is sought to be removed from curriculum (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2011b). When financial
education is personalized to the learner, with specific financial advice, application is more
meaningful and can have a favorable impact on financial behaviors (Fernandes et al., 2014).
The role of private sector financial services providers. Financial services providers can
have a deep impact on the financial literacy of women through personalized financial education
programs, where effective financial education results in improved financial behaviors and
financial decision-making. In order to enhance the likelihood of positive educational results and
greater personal impact, Fernandes et al. (2014) recommended specific financial advice over
general financial education, resulting in goal-based tailoring of financial behaviors. Furthermore,
financial education delivered through personalized financial support systems is more meaningful
and can improve financial literacy. Cohen and Nelson (2011) also identified the important
connection of goal-orientation to financial literacy and its window to financial inclusion. Further
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

25
noted was that the use of financial education is a client responsibility, but that access to financial
education is an institutional responsibility. Representing the institutional sector, the financial
services industry is positioned to provide access to financial education, facilitated by the
community presence of financial advisors and relationship-based business models.
Financial decisions can be complex and daunting for even an excellent student of
personal financial matters. Lusardi and Mitchell (2007b) emphasized the importance of formal
financial advice in economic decision-making, and a focus on appropriate decisions that reflect
individualized economic behaviors, as financial decisions and choices optimally reflect the
individual’s special circumstances. Further emphasized was the importance of the learner’s self-
knowledge and accurate assessment of abilities. They expressed caution in regard to seeking
financial advice from informal sources, such as friends and family who are not professionally
trained in financial advising, as they may not have the resources or knowledge necessary. Many
financial services companies and personal financial advisors are well-positioned to deliver
gender appropriate financial education to include personally tailored financial planning concepts,
application, and applied learning in such areas as goals, time frame, risk tolerance, cash flow,
investments, insurance, taxation, retirement planning, and estate planning.
The Role of Financial Advisors
The stakeholder group of focus are knowledgeable and motivated financial advisors who
provide financial education to clients. Licensing is required to be a financial services provider, as
is on-going continuing education. Topics of expertise broadly include risk management, wealth
management, and financial planning, with specialized knowledge in targeted areas such as long-
term care, education funding, estate planning, tax planning, widowhood, and divorce. Financial
advisors are motivated to apply knowledge and solutions to the tailored needs of clients, often
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

26
utilizing the resources of their parent organization. Financial education is a useful tool for
financial advisors to communicate knowledge, motivation, and organizational support for
financial literacy.
Clark and Estes’ (2008) Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences
Framework
Clark and Estes’ (2008) framework systematically studies stakeholder performance
within an organization. The goal of this problem-solving process was to understand the influence
that knowledge, motivation, and the organization have on stakeholder goal accomplishment in
relation to organizational goals. The four types of knowledge are factual, conceptual, procedural,
and metacognitive along with the six cognitive processes of remembering, understanding,
applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating (Krathwohl, 2002). However, motivation, not
knowledge and skills, is often found to be the reason for gaps in performance goals (Clark &
Estes, 2008). Motivation involves thoughts, beliefs, emotions and behaviors, and includes self-
efficacy, attributions, interests, values, and goals (Pintrich, 2003). Lastly, performance gaps can
be the result of organizational processes, inefficiencies, ineffectiveness, material resources,
culture, values, policies, and improvement programs. These three concepts were further
examined through the methodology discussed in Chapter Three.
Financial Advisors’ Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational Influences
Financial advisors’ knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences were addressed
in regard to the effective delivery of financial education, and financial literacy attainment, for
women. The three-pillared approach of Clark and Estes (2008) was applicable in, and informed,
this study. The financial advisors’ knowledge influences their ability to develop and deliver
content in regard to gender appropriateness, technical skills, practical concepts, and real-life
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

27
applications for women. The financial advisors’ motivation influences their ability to engage in
programming that is specific to the needs of women, and to ensure the quality of programming
designed to further their financial education. Finally, the organization within which the financial
advisors work, with its culture and policies, resources and other factors, directly influences their
facilitation of financial education for women, and is impacted by the goals of the organization.
Organizational goals for businesses can focus on income, market share, and stakeholder or
investor value (Clark & Estes, 2008). Knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences
impact the advisors’ ability to deliver financial education to women, where increasing the
financial literacy of women is the goal for financial advisors who are the stakeholder group of
focus.
Knowledge Influences
Successfully setting and accomplishing goals is reliant on the attainment of knowledge
and the resulting application of skills. Mayer (2011) broke learning into three main components:
a change in the learner, a change in their knowledge, and a change in their experience. Financial
education contains these three components of learning. A study of financial literacy for women
and the impact of financial education are important as financial education is the key to fighting
financial ignorance (Lusardi, 2008). As women test lower in financial literacy than men, it is
important to have gender appropriate financial education to help improve learning and financial
literacy for women (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2011b). A review of literature focusing on skills and
knowledge influences was of use to inform the creation, design, and delivery of effective
financial education for women.
The four types of knowledge are factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive
knowledge. Factual knowledge includes facts, information, details, elements, and terms required
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

28
to solve a problem in a specific area and together are declarative knowledge. Conceptual
knowledge includes generalizations, processes, models, theories, structures and principles.
Procedural knowledge involves knowing how to do something, including skills, techniques,
methods, and when to do what. Metacognitive knowledge is knowledge of ones-self to include
planning, strategizing, evaluating, and knowing when and why to do something. These types of
knowledge are necessary in the study of teaching financial skill sets which are critical to
everyday financial decision-making.
Knowledge of gender appropriate financial education content and materials.
Declarative knowledge encompasses conceptual knowledge and factual knowledge. Factual
knowledge consists of discrete and isolated content elements to include terminology and details,
whereas conceptual knowledge is the knowledge of theories, models, and structures to include
classifications, categories, principles and generalizations (Krathwohl, 2002). There are two goals
for the financial advisor that are influenced by declarative knowledge. It is important for
financial advisors to understand what gender appropriate financial education content and
materials look like. Also, financial advisors need to know what content details will maximize
learner enrollment and participation in subsequent financial education. A survey of the literature
highlighted relevant factors of influence in the accomplishment of declarative knowledge goals.
Knowledge of relevant subject matter. The financial advisor needs to include educational
content that is relevant, supportive, and attractive for women, meeting their needs for developing
personal financial decision-making skill sets, including family and business needs. Developing
coursework involves identifying specific behavioral objectives and creating curriculum to
accomplish goals (Daly, 2006). The elements of successful financial education are optimal when
defined by relevance, usefulness, and quality of delivery (Cohen & Nelson, 2011). Procedural
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

29
knowledge refers to knowing how to do something and includes methods of inquiry, specific
skills, techniques, and methodologies to accomplish a particular task (Rueda, 2011).
Purposefully, procedural knowledge includes knowledge of subject specific skills and
techniques, as well as criteria for determining when to use appropriate procedures (Krathwohl,
2002). A focus on financial education is time efficient and effective, as there is causality of
financial planning to wealth accumulation (Lusardi, 2008). Financial education needs to have the
content, look, and feel to attract, retain, and encourage the participation of female learners.
Knowledge of course design. The goal for the financial advisor that is influenced by
procedural knowledge is to understand how to design and deliver effective educational
programming for women. Design and delivery that facilitates a transfer of training is what really
matters, where training is defined as a systematic acquisition of knowledge, skills, and attitudes
that lead to improved performance in a specific environment (Grossman & Salas, 2011),
exemplified by the application of everyday financial decision-making skills. Generally, a typical
financial education course is delivered in-person as a seminar or workshop and can include
individual meetings with the learner (Lyons et al., 2006). Curriculum needs to reinforce and
support the financial planning process by including as topics the content areas presented in a
personalized plan, thus enhancing the learner’s ability to be a better-informed participant. A
survey of the literature highlights relevant factors of influence in the accomplishment of
procedural knowledge goals for the financial advisor to include skills, techniques, and
methodologies required for effective curriculum design.
This study explored the degree to which financial advisors know what strategies,
contextual knowledge, conditional knowledge, and self-knowledge belong in financial
curriculum for women, as well as the impact of course design. New information is more
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

30
meaningful when connected with what the learner already knows, supported by a logically
organized structure, and integrated into daily situations (Schraw & McCrudden, 2006). Stand-
alone financial education is not enough, and applicable tools are required (Lusardi & Mitchell,
2007b). It is important that knowledge be obtained through training which is designed to
positively transfer to real life applications (Grossman & Salas, 2011). Personal responsibility by
the learner is an important dynamic in financial education, as it is a chance to serve vulnerable
populations and provide community-oriented delivery of content for application in daily lives,
improving choices made in financial matters (Harnish, 2010). Learning thrives in learning
environments that foster desirable behaviors (Tuckman, 2006), as well as with learning models
where there is belief that outcomes are meaningful and useful with real world applications
(Denler, Wolters, & Benzon, 2006). Financial advisors need to design financial educational
programs based on the skills and needs of the learner and provide meaningful context and
content for application to everyday financial decision-making.
Financial advisors’ self-reflection. The financial advisor needs to know what skills,
techniques, and methods are necessary for their own excellence in delivering financial education
for women. Metacognition is self-awareness, with contextual and conditional relevance to an
activity or problem, resulting in the knowledge of when and why to do something (Rueda, 2011).
It means cognition about cognition, or thinking about thinking (Baker, 2006) and involves
knowledge about one’s own cognition (Krathwohl, 2002). The metacognitive goals for the
financial advisor involve their own skills and applicable tools as educators.
Financial advisors who are aware of their strengths and weaknesses as financial
educators, cognizant of why they are educating, and able to consider the contextual and
conditional aspects of the educational program, have metacognitive knowledge, as defined by
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

31
Rueda (2011). Metacognitive strategies foster creative and critical thinking, and personal
responsibility for learning (Baker, 2006). Metacognition is enhanced when the financial advisor
as facilitator is involved with their own learning, where Mayer (2011) included awareness and
control of the process, practice with feedback and vicarious reinforcement as factors that increase
positive behaviors and learning. Providing opportunities for guided self-assessment, to include
feelings and personal perspectives before, during, and after (Baker, 2006) can help the advisors’
learning. In order to improve skills as a financial educator, financial advisors can benefit from
the input of others and from self-awareness, leading to development and growth in content
knowledge as well as teaching acumen.
Table 2 provides information specific to knowledge influences and knowledge types.
Table 2
Knowledge Influences, Types, and Assessments for Knowledge Gap Analysis
Knowledge Influence

Knowledge Type
(i.e., declarative (factual or conceptual),
procedural, or metacognitive)
Financial advisors need to know what gender
appropriate financial education content and
materials look like.
Declarative
Financial advisors need to know what
financial facts, concepts, processes, skills,
techniques, and principles are needed by
women for financial decision-making.
Declarative

Financial advisors need to know how to
design and deliver relevant content for
women who study financial planning topics.
Procedural
Financial advisors need to be self-aware
regarding their level of proficiency in
delivering educational content to women.
Metacognitive

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32
Motivational Influences
Motivation, not knowledge and skills, is often found to be the reason for gaps in current
performance and the levels required to achieve goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). Knowledge and
motivation work cooperatively, where knowledge stores experience and guides how to do things,
and motivation, in comparison, keeps individuals going and moving (Clark & Estes, 2008).
Identifying motivation can be measured by assessing choice, persistence, and mental effort
(Rueda, 2011; Clark & Estes, 2008). The five principles of motivational dynamics are
summarized by Pintrich (2003) to include adaptive self-efficacy and competence beliefs,
adaptive attributions and control beliefs, levels of interest and intrinsic motivation, levels of
value, and goals. These motivational beliefs are assumed not to vary, even though the specifics of
the belief could vary developmentally or culturally (Rueda, 2011). These beliefs are
accompanied by specific design principles. Relevant to the financial advisors’ performance was a
further exploration of the effect on motivation by self-efficacy and goal orientation.
Goal orientation. Goal orientation involves a deliberate process of choosing goals,
persisting in the acquisition of the goals, and deciding how much mental effort to expend on the
goal process. Yough and Anderman (2010) defined goals as either mastery or performance,
where a mastery-orientation is about true understanding and self-improvement, while a
performance-orientation is about demonstrating competence in comparison to others. Rueda
(2011) discussed goal orientation as an important motivational construct, where goals are
something that a person wants to achieve and are a pattern of beliefs representing ways to
respond to achievement situations.
Financial advisors’ mastery orientation. The financial advisors feel they need to make
financial education a priority for female clients and are motivated to do so in order to promote
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

33
their client’s understanding and mastery of personal financial concepts. This goal orientation
exceeds expectations for traditional professional standards for financial advisors. To assess the
impact of this motivational influence on the financial advisor, this study solicited input through
personal interviews with practitioners. A survey of the literature highlights relevant factors of
influence in the accomplishment of this goal.
Financial education programming benefits from strategies found to promote goal
orientation. A mastery goal orientation leads one to approach a task for reasons such as to learn,
gain new competence, and importantly in order to accomplish a challenging activity (Rueda,
2011), which is relevant to financial advisors’ activities of providing financial education to
women. Learning and performance benefit from controlling motivation which includes
developing and maintaining positive beliefs about ability to perform tasks (Dembo & Eaton,
2000), in this case to effectively deliver the educational curriculum. Mastery orientation for
educational program delivery is important for the financial advisor, as business modeling is
modified to accommodate the commitment to education, where successful delivery can define
the client relationship.
Self-efficacy. Self-efficacy beliefs are the self-perceptions that individuals hold about
their capabilities (Pajares, 2006). When people expect to do well, they tend to try hard, persist,
and perform better (Pintrich, 2003). Self-efficacy asks the question, “Am I able to do this task?”
Rueda (2011) differentiates self-esteem as more focused on the question of how one feels about
oneself, in general, noting that self-efficacy is influenced by relevant prior knowledge and the
impact of feedback in response to successes or failures. Features of feedback to consider includes
the type and amount of the feedback, and by whom it was delivered.
Financial advisors’ self-efficacy. Financial advisors who facilitate the educational
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

34
programs need to feel confident in their training to deliver financial education so that they can
effectively teach money management classes and motivate women to have the confidence to
learn more about personal financial planning, as evidenced by attendance in subsequent courses
or personalized planning. Individuals with higher self-efficacy are more motivated as they have
greater belief in their own competence, higher expectations for positive outcomes, and are more
motivated to engage in, persist at, and work hard at a task (Rueda, 2011). Financial advisors’
confidence and competence in their ability to educate are important as learners need accurate
self-knowledge; it is critical since overconfidence when self-rating of financial knowledge and
abilities causes a gap, as needed advice is not sought, creating issues with respect to economic
behaviors (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2007b). Accurate assessment of confidence in ability matters, as
under-confidence can lead to persistence and choice problems, and over-confidence can cause
people to make mistakes as their skill set is less than adequate for the task (Clark & Estes, 2008).
Learner over-confidence can lead to a belief that lack of professional advice can be replaced by
informal sources such as friends, with even complex asset decisions affected by word of mouth
(Lusardi, 2008). A design principle for the motivational generalization of self-efficacy includes
the ability to provide clear and accurate feedback to learners regarding skills and competence
(Rueda, 2011). This is an important component for a financial advisors’ self-efficacy to deliver
financial education.
Table 3 identifies motivational influences that focus on self-efficacy and goal orientation
for the stakeholder of focus. These influences are used to more fully understand how motivation
impacts the initiative for financial advisors to be skilled in, and to value and prioritize the
effective delivery of gender appropriate financial education that leads to financial literacy,
subsequent attendance, and the application of knowledge and skills to everyday financial
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

35
decisions.
Table 3
Motivational Influences and Assessments for Motivation Gap Analysis
Assumed Motivational Influences
Goal Orientation -
Financial advisors need to have a mastery goal orientation regarding the delivery of
financial education to female clients.
Self-Efficacy –

Financial advisors need to believe that they can effectively teach financial education to
women clients and encourage their ongoing financial education.

Organizational Influences
Knowledge, skills, and motivation integrate and focus together on the organization for
improved performance and the accomplishment of stakeholder goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). Even
where there is exceptional motivation and knowledge, processes and materials that are
inadequate can prevent the achievement of performance goals (Clark & Estes, 2008).
Organizational culture, structure, policies, and practices impact performance gaps (Rueda, 2011),
as organizations are complex systems with interconnected performance issues (Clark & Estes,
2008). Organizational influences can be understood through a cultural profile of the organization,
which includes analysis of cultural models and cultural settings (Clark & Estes, 2008).
Organizational culture is a shared system of values, knowledge, assumptions, behaviors,
and communication, resulting in how things get done, created, sustained, and changed (Berger,
2014). Culture is a constructed and dynamic context for understanding, meaning, and work
(Berger, 2014). Culture is what a group has learned in the act of survival, organizing itself,
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

36
growing, dealing with its external environment, evolving and existing in the group’s
unconscious, while influencing the group’s behavior (Schein, 2017). Organizational culture
shapes reasons for change, processes, and change outcomes, where a primary motivator for
change is legitimacy, rather than profit or productivity (Kezar, 2001). Culture consists of models
and cultural settings which are dynamic and interactive, not static and mechanistic (Rueda,
2011). Cultural models help with understanding less visible aspects of culture, with a focus on
values and beliefs (Kezar, 2001). Cultural settings can help with understanding more visible
aspects, can impact behavior, and can be shaped by individuals and groups, with variations in
characteristics being developed over time (Rueda, 2011). Culture exists at many levels of
observability which include behavioral regularities, climate, formal rituals, espoused values,
formal philosophy, group norms, unwritten rules, identity, embedded skills, mental models,
shared meanings, and integrated symbols (Schein, 2017). The following section presents the
organizational influences of cultural models and cultural settings on financial advisors offering
financial education to women.
Organizational influences inform the creation, design, and delivery of effective financial
education for women. Clark and Estes (2008) addressed aligning organizational culture with
organizational behavior, core beliefs intrinsic to culture guiding decisions about goal selection,
and influence practices used to attain those goals. Organizational goals for businesses can focus
on income, market share, and stakeholder or investor value. Organizational problems can occur
when culture conflicts with goals, policies and practices, and with results expected when
organizational decisions do not align with culture. Perception is important as what people
experience as organizational climate, and believe is the culture, determines whether change can
be accomplished and can be sustained (Schneider, Brief, & Guzzo, 1996). An example is
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37
financial education for women, as it can be impacted by the organization’s cultural settings and
cultural models, where it can be a cultural connect or disconnect; financial education
programming for women can challenge profitability as it could be seen to redirect resources, it
can challenge company policies and practices, and it may not receive all around support even if
presented as in alignment.
Organization recognizing gender diversity in financial decision-making. Financial
education for women needs to be part of the organizational cultural model, where the influence
of gender diversity in organizational programming and policies is acknowledged and
accommodated. Low financial literacy for women impacts financial decision-making ability,
where women have tremendous financial decision-making responsibilities (Prast & van Soest,
2016). Women typically face more financial challenges than men, earning less with greater
career disruptions, and are primarily responsible for family finances (Chen & V olpe, 2002).
Financial education has a positive influence on financial capacity and wealth and removes
barriers to being financially informed (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2007a). Gender-specific financial
education influences cultural models that address the financial decision-making needs of women.
Delivering financial education for women could be a change for the organization.
Culture-change programs work only if they are consistent with the organization’s cultural DNA,
where DNA includes beliefs, values, and behaviors (Schein, 2017). Aligning organizational
culture with goals can be complicated by behavioral patterns that have been ingrained over time,
where the visual tip of the cultural iceberg may indicate support for an initiative, but below is a
hidden culture of unconscious behavior and attitudes (Clark & Estes, 2008). Values, interests,
power, commitments, history, skills, and capacity within an organization determine its ability to
change, where cultural perspectives on change and stability impact reception to new and old
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

38
institutionally derived ideas and ability to implement (Greenwood & Hinings, 1996). Cultural
patterns can be changed by changing the beliefs and knowledge of groups of people in a work
environment (Clark & Estes, 2008), which can result in gender inclusive financial education.
This study will explore the influences of organizational cultural models on the goal of financial
advisors to provide gender responsive financial education for women.
Organizational marketing of financial education to women. Financial education for
women needs to be a professional expectation and part of the organization’s cultural setting and
practice, where the organization markets to women, providing timely and pertinent gender
specific curriculum, with high-value materials. The elements of successful financial education
are optimal when defined by relevance, usefulness, and quality of delivery (Cohen & Nelson,
2011). Content applicable to daily needs improves financial choices by improving decision-
making abilities (Harnish, 2010). Financial education alone is not enough, but practical tools are
required to impact financial literacy (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2007b), echoing the importance of
relevant, meaningful, practical, and useful financial content that can be used in daily life. Access
to financial education is an institutional responsibility, reinforcing organizational goals (Cohen &
Nelson, 2011). Formal financial advice is important which focuses on appropriate economic
behavior (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2007b). Financial services companies are well-positioned to
market and deliver gender appropriate financial education which includes personal financial
planning concepts and applied skills.
Organizational marketing of financial education for women may be a change. A cultural
setting where financial advisors are in leadership roles in regard to delivering gender specific
financial education with a focus on increasing financial literacy could be a deviation from prior
practices for the organization. Schein (2017) described the role of anxiety in new learning that
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

39
launches transformative organizational change. The change process includes two anxieties: an
anxiety of feeling that change must be made, accompanied by guilt or survival anxiety, and
learning anxiety, which can include challenging existing competencies, position, identity, and
group membership. This anxiety of learning something new, or relearning something old, can
cause denial and resistance to change. Leadership is the key to learning, where learning occurs
when something expected is not happening, and the leader directs new behavior towards
achieving some purpose. Effective leaders get people to follow, where followers’ four basic
needs and wants from a leader are trust, compassion, stability, and hope (Rath, 2008).
Sustainability of organizational change depends on the way the change was introduced and the
prevailing conditions at the time (Schneider et al., 1996). Managing organizational change is best
focused on the people making the change, who are driven by purpose, identity, and mastery, to
accomplish a renewal of direction, structure, and capabilities to serve changing external and
internal needs (Moran & Brightman, 2000). Marketing financial education to women is a focus
on cultural setting, impacting the financial advisor goal of effective delivery of financial
education to women, which cannot happen without the support of their organization.
Table 4 provides the organizational influences that are assumed to impact financial
advisors’ ability to provide financial education to women. The organizational influences assessed
will specifically address the presence and implementation of a gender inclusive culture in the
area of financial education for women, evidenced through cultural models and cultural settings.
Table 4
Organizational Influences
Cultural Model Influence:
Organization recognizing gender diversity in
financial decision-making.
The financial advisors’ organization needs to
recognize the importance of gender diversity
in financial advice and decision making.
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40
Cultural Setting Influence:
Organizational marketing of financial
education to women with support resources
for financial advisors.
As women control the majority of wealth and
make the vast majority of financial decisions,
the organization needs to market to women.

Conceptual Framework: The Interaction of Financial Advisors’ Knowledge,
Motivation, and the Organizational Context
A conceptual framework is a system of concepts, assumptions, beliefs, expectations, and
theories, which support and inform the research. The conceptual framework includes terms,
concepts, models, thoughts, and ideas (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The specific conceptual
framework for this study incorporates the influences of knowledge, motivation, and the
organization related to stakeholder goal attainment based on the work by Clark and Estes (2008).
The conceptual framework provides graphic and narrative explanation of these relationships.
As the research focus frequently results from life experiences of the researcher,
experiential knowledge can provide a significant source of insights and hypotheses. With
experiential knowledge, researcher bias may influence the basic assumptions held about reality
and impact the interpretations of the study (Maxwell, 2013). In this case, the researcher has
experience in delivering financial education and providing financial planning services,
investments, and insurance to women. The researcher’s basic assumptions support the belief that
financial education leads to financial literacy and that it is important for content and delivery to
be adapted to the female audience for effective learning, motivation, and application of
knowledge and skills.
Prior theory and research are sparse with regard to the impact of financial education on
the financial literacy of women. The research is clear, however, that financial literacy for women
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

41
is a significant issue. Women have greater longevity, so financial portfolios must last longer,
putting strains on retirement income and planning (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2011b). The portfolios of
women are further strained by lower savings due to lower lifetime earnings and careers that are
shortened and interrupted (Chen & V olpe, 2002). Women increasingly control most of the wealth
in America (BMO Financial Group, 2015), yet only one in ten women surveyed felt
knowledgeable about financial products (Insured Retirement Institute, 2013).
Financial education is a resource for women to become better-informed decision makers.
The elements of successful financial education are optimal when defined by relevance,
usefulness, and quality of delivery (Cohen & Nelson, 2011). Financial advisors who are prepared
to financially advise informed and able decision makers often provide personal financial
education. The conceptual framework addresses the knowledge, motivation, and the
organizational influences related to the financial advisors’ ability to deliver important financial
education to women. These factors are addressed separately but work together and are
interdependent.
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42

Figure 1. Interactive conceptual framework for financial literacy for women.
Financial advisors’ delivery of
financial education to women
is influenced by:
Support and available resources,
Knowledge & Skills,
Values, priorities, and motivation,
and
Available time, incentive, and
competing responsibilities of
practice management.

Financial Services Companies
Financial advisors receive support from their parent
companies for their financial education activities.
Support for a focus on women varies and is impacted
by cultural settings and cultural models.

Goals for financial advisors:
To provide access to relevant and
appropriate financial curriculum,
resulting in class attendance by
women who attain and apply
financial education,
evidenced by engagement in
subsequent financial education
coursework or personal financial
counseling.

FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

43
Figure 1 illustrates the influences of knowledge, motivation, and the organization on the
accomplishment of the goal, which is effective delivery of financial education to women. It
illustrates the theory that the organization, for the purpose of this study, is the financial advisor
and their practice, as they are the closest point of connection to the female learner, who is
typically a client. As the organization of focus, the financial advisors’ organization must have
support for the initiative to provide financial education for women from the parent financial
services company to which the financial advisor reports. The influence of cultural models and
cultural settings can determine the degree to which financial education for women is supported
and can impact the financial advisors’ available options for implementation. Support and
resources are critical as the financial advisors’ goals center on positive engagement in financial
education by the women who participate in the educational experience. Successful goal
attainment is improved financial literacy, as evidenced by subsequent course attendance or
participation in personalized financial counseling.
The goal of financial advisors is for female learners to continue their financial education.
Financial education increases exposure to, and fluency in, financial concepts, and although not a
direct measurement of financial literacy, financial knowledge positively influences wealth and
financial capacity (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2007a). It is important that knowledge be obtained
through training which is designed to positively transfer to real life applications (Grossman &
Salas, 2011). Motivation is exhibited by the learner’s continued participation in educational
activities. Motivation, not knowledge and skills, is often found to be the reason for gaps in
current performance and the levels required to achieve goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). In addition
to motivation and knowledge, the organization’s business model must be able to support the
initiative of financial education for women, as organizational goals can be driven by a focus on
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44
income, market share, and stakeholder or investor value (Clark & Estes, 2008). As the conceptual
framework illustrates, accomplishing the goal of financial education for women involves the
influences of knowledge, motivation, and the organization on the three stakeholder groups, with
the primary focus on the financial advisor and their professional practice.
Conclusion
The problem of practice for this dissertation study explored the knowledge, motivation,
and organizational capacity of financial advisors to deliver financial education to female clients.
Financial education, and the resulting impact on improved financial literacy for women is
important, as women test as less financially literate than men, yet are responsible for many, if not
most, financial decisions (Prast & van Soest, 2016). Financial literacy is a growing demand for
women, as women’s finances are strained by, on average, greater longevity than men (Lusardi &
Mitchell, 2011b) and often lower lifetime savings due to shortened and interrupted careers (Chen
& V olpe, 2002). Additionally, women are in need of financial skills as they control the majority
of personal wealth in America (BMO Financial Group, 2015). This study explored the success of
a grouping of financial advisors, FASW, in providing financial education to women.
This chapter reviewed the wide reach of financial literacy on women, their families, and
society. Financial literacy is reflective of personal socio-economics and therefore not an absolute
state (Cohen & Nelson, 2011), warranting financial education accompanied by practical tools
that can be applied (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2007b). Although there is little historic data
documenting financial education (Prewett, 2015), FASW had a history of providing these
programs. The financial advisors’ capacity to deliver financial education to women is examined
through the systematic framework of Clark and Estes (2008) regarding knowledge, motivation,
and organizational influences. The two other stakeholder groups, the learner and the parent
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45
company, impact, and are impacted by, the advisors’ goal attainment. Organizational culture,
both models and settings, determine where financial education for women falls in the company’s
priorities and policies. Financial advisors’ motivation can be impacted by the level of company
support. Acquisition of the knowledge needed in regard to content, design, delivery, and
capability, will be more accessible for the financial advisor if the company supports the initiative
and provides training and materials. The stakeholder who is the learner benefits from the
financial advisor goal attainment, as they are participants in financial education, provided with
increased opportunity for financial skill building, impacting themselves and others who rely on
them, as women are often primarily responsible for family finances and decisions (Prast & van
Soest, 2016). The study’s methodological approach is presented in Chapter Three.

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Chapter Three: Methods
This dissertation study explored the knowledge, motivation, and organizational capacity
of financial advisors to offer financial education to female clients where the financial advisors
had female-focused practices with face-to-face distribution models for delivering client services.
In this chapter, the research design and methods for the data collection and the data analysis are
presented. This included the criteria, strategy, and rationale. Credibility, trustworthiness, ethics,
limitations and delimitations are also addressed. The questions that guided this study are:
1. What is the financial advisors’ knowledge and motivation related to facilitating active
engagement in financial education activities by their female clients?
2. What is the interaction between organizational culture and context and financial
advisors’ knowledge and motivation?
3. What are the recommendations for organizational practice in the areas of knowledge,
motivation, and organizational resources?
Primary Participating Stakeholders
The stakeholder of focus were financial advisors who were identified as serving the
female market place. Their business models included a face-to-face relationship with their clients
and a focus on client education. Advisors used financial education as a pathway toward financial
skill-building and improving financial literacy in order to enhance and facilitate capacitated
financial decision-making. Advisors were identified as qualified stakeholders either by self-
nomination, their firms, or by referral. The researcher had access to FASW due to 30 years of
professional experience as a leader in the financial services industry, where relationships were
established with other leaders from many companies throughout the financial services
community. The stakeholder group, FASW, was a representative sampling of financial advisors
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from different distribution and organizational models to include independent broker-dealers,
registered investment advisors, traditional life, fraternal, multi-line, and wire-house. Participating
financial advisors, for the purpose of this study, were located in the United States. It was not a
requirement that a female-focused financial advising practice exclusively serve women. An in-
depth study of one specific group who has a history with the problem of practice is an
information-rich, purposeful sample from which the most can be learned, discovered,
understood, and insight gained (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale
The following criteria guided the selection of participants:
Criterion 1: Financial advisors considered by their firms as serving female clients.
Criterion 2: Financial advisors who self-proclaimed a practice model structured to serve
the needs of female clients.
Criterion 3: Financial advisors who utilized educational methodologies to include, but
not limited to, classes, workshops, newsletters, personalized financial planning, and seminars.
Interview Sampling (Recruitment) Strategy and Rationale
The qualitative data collection method used were interviews. Interviewing is often the
major source of data needed for understanding the phenomenon being studied (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016). Qualitative interview studies have been an important method for providing
descriptions of phenomenon that could not have been learned about except through the interview
process (Weiss, 1994). Interviews are conducted to find out things that cannot be observed, such
as thoughts, feelings, intentions, how they have organized their world, the meanings they attach
to what goes on in their world, and their perspectives (Patton, 2002). Qualitative interview
studies are often the method of choice as interviews can develop detailed descriptions, integrate
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48
multiple perspectives, describe process, develop holistic descriptions, interpret events, bridge
intersubjectivities, identify variables, and frame hypotheses (Weiss, 1994). Similarly,
interviewing is an effective and direct method to understanding financial advisors’ knowledge,
motivation, and organizational capacity to facilitate active engagement in financial education
activities for their female clients.
Participants were financial advisors that had a history of conducting financial education
for women. The type of interview was the semi-structured, interview guide approach, with the
strength being the comprehensiveness of the data collected (Johnson & Christiansen, 2015),
covering duration of experience, perceptions of organizational influences, motivations, and
knowledge. As participants were selected from different companies, context was established
regarding historical practices, present practices, and future plans and initiatives.
Organizational support played an important role in financial advisors’ abilities to provide
financial education for women. The interview process inquired as to the influence of
organizational cultural models and cultural settings on the financial advisors’ ability to
accomplish financial education programming for the advisors’ female clients. Once
organizational cultural models and settings are clear, it is easier to understand why behavior,
thinking, and responses occur in particular contexts (Rueda, 2011). Organizational culture is
characterized by core beliefs that can guide decisions about goals and the processes and
procedures used to achieve goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). As culture may vary from the home
office to the field, culture was addressed in personal interviews. Interview groups are purposeful,
nonrandom samples, determined by convenience sampling as participants are available and
willing to participate (Fink, 2013).

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Secondary Participating Stakeholders
The secondary stakeholders were financial services companies who were identified as
serving the female market place, although not exclusively. Their business models included
supporting face-to-face relationships with clients and offering client education. These companies
supported financial advisors who use financial education for their clients, with additional support
for the women’s market. These companies had a track record of supporting efforts towards
financial literacy for women. These organizations prioritized financial education as a pathway
toward financial skill-building for clients and to improving their financial literacy. They believed
it important to enhance and facilitate capacitated financial decision-making for clients, and they
had initiatives and programs to provide special support for women. These organizations
represented financial services companies from different distribution channels and organizational
models to include independent broker-dealers, registered investment advisors, traditional life,
fraternal, multi-line, and wire-house. Participating financial companies were located in the
United States. Interviews with organizational executive leadership were conducted and
organizational documents and artifacts were reviewed.
Interview Sampling Criteria and Rationale
The following criteria guided the selection of participants:
Criterion 1: Executive leadership of financial services companies who were nominated
by practitioner interviewees as being of service to female clients.
Criterion 2: Executive leadership of financial services companies who self-proclaimed a
practice model structured to serve the needs of female clients.
Criterion 3: Executive leadership of financial services companies who utilized
educational methodologies to include, but not limited to, classes, workshops, newsletters,
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50
personalized financial planning, and seminars.
Interview Sampling (Recruitment) Strategy and Rationale
Participants were executive level leaders of financial services companies that had a
history of conducting financial education for women. The type of interview was the semi-
structured, interview guide approach, covering organizational influence, motivation, and
knowledge. As participants were selected from different companies, context was established
regarding historical practices, present practices, future plans, types of support, policies,
initiatives, and value proposition for clients and advisors.
Data Collection and Instrumentation
The research utilized two methods of data collection: interviews and document and
artifact collection. Two sets of interviews were conducted, covering the two stakeholder groups
of financial advisor practitioners and financial services organization executive leadership.
Documents and artifacts from each group were reviewed. Triangulation is the use of multiple
data collection methods to lessen the likelihood of conclusions being based on insubstantial
evidence (McEwan & McEwan, 2003).
Interviews
The interview protocol used was semi-structured. A standardized open-ended interview
method was utilized with fully scripted and carefully sequenced questions. When questions are
fully worded and sequenced for consistency of the interviews, it allows for facilitation of
analysis by making responses easy to find and compare, as well as maximizing interviewee
efficiency by being highly focused (Patton, 2002). This approach provides rich data (Weiss,
1994). As referenced by Merriam and Tisdell (2016), the interviewer must ask good questions,
where fewer and more open-ended questions are better, as fewer and broader questions can yield
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rich contributions to the data. As such, an interview guide with a list of 22 open-ended questions
were used for practitioners and an interview guide with eight open-ended questions was used for
leadership. Both interviews addressed knowledge, motivation, and organizational factors related
to the research questions. These questions reflect Patton’s (2002) six categories of questions
which include experiences and behaviors, opinions and values, knowledge (factual), feeling
(emotion), sensory (sights and sounds), and demographic. Hypothetical questions were not used,
where this type of question requires speculation about what something might be like or what
someone might do in a particular situation (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The goal of the interviews
was to collect information about actual practices, which reflected the conceptual framework and
served to answer the research questions.
Fourteen interviews were conducted with practitioners and five interviews were
conducted with executive leaders. Interviewees were representative of the six types of financial
services organizations, as previously defined. As the quality of the information obtained during
an interview was largely dependent on the interviewer’s ability to understand the interviewee’s
world (Patton, 2002), my past experience in financial advising and providing financial education
to women facilitated understanding. Interviews were conducted in one sitting and limited to one
hour and fifteen minutes. In an effort to prevent geographical bias, interviews were conducted
via phone. The timing was based on the availability of the participants, as time of day was an
immaterial consideration, as was the day of the week. With permission from the interviewees, the
interviews were audio-recorded and then transcribed. Some method for recording the verbatim
responses of the people being interviewed is essential but does not preclude the need for taking
notes as well (Patton, 2002). Transcribing interviews can be a tedious process and hiring
someone allows the researcher more time for analyzing data (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). As such,
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52
interviews were recorded, transcribed professionally, and researcher notes were taken during the
interviews. The interview protocol for practitioners is located in Appendix A and the interview
protocol for executive leadership is located in Appendix B.
Documents and Artifacts
Just as interviews are an important strategy to answer the research questions, documents
and artifacts are also important sources of qualitative data (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Supporting
documents identified during the interviews were reviewed. Primary resources were websites and
digital communications approved for use with the public. Additional documents from
practitioners included discussion and description of materials such as teaching aids, workbooks,
power point presentations, newsletters, fact sheets, handouts, and financial plan templates.
Additional documents from leadership included discussion and description of materials such as
job descriptions, marketing collateral, recruiting ads, initiative descriptions, and information
about incentives and rewards. These relevant documents link directly to the research questions
and conceptual framework, serving to exemplify the actual application of the financial advisors’
knowledge, motivation, and organizational support to execute on the delivery of financial
education programing for women. All programs leave a paper trail that is helpful for the
evaluator to follow and use to increase their understanding and knowledge about the program,
with the ideal data collection to include all routine records, correspondence, and all documents
generated (Patton, 1987). Documents are a good source of data, and can be even better than
interviews or observations, providing descriptive information, verifying hypotheses, offering
historical understanding, and tracking change and development (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The
Document and Artifact Analysis Protocol is located in Appendix C.

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Data Analysis
The data analysis for this study integrated data from the interviews and the document and
artifact collection into a meaningful understanding of financial educational practices for the
FASW. The organizational influences of the financial services companies complemented the
analysis with an understanding of the impact of organizational influence and range of capacity of
the organization to provide support for the programs. Documents and artifacts were obtained as
part of the interview process as relevant descriptors of narrative commentary, as well as from
public sources. Finding relevant materials is the first step in the process of using documents and
artifacts in qualitative research (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
The interview analysis involved developing a codebook and the use of open coding.
Organizational categories formally organize the data obtained from the interviews (Maxwell,
2013). A priori codes examine the connection to the cultural framework (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016). For the coding of the interviews, initially selected a priori codes covered the themes of
organizational culture, knowledge, motivation, self-efficacy, and educational activities. As in
vivo codes use words or short phrases from the language of the interviewees (Miles, Huberman,
& Saldaña, 2014), in vivo codes emerged from contexts of interest as the interviews progressed.
An initial list of in vivo codes to include the concepts of: motivations to provide client education,
types of client services, types of client relationships, unique value proposition for clients,
acquisition process for knowledge and skills, how financial education is delivered, types of client
participation in financial education, types of personalized financial planning, vision for practice,
and vision for clients. As sub-codes add more detail to the primary codes (Miles et al., 2014),
sub-coding was also used. Codes assist the understanding of the commonalities in the data set
(Harding, 2013) and helps facilitate the move from codes to findings. Coding was a useful tool
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for identifying findings from the interview data, and by its quantitative nature, to evidence
themes, trends, commonalities, and differences.
Merriam and Tisdell (2016) view documentary material as data to be used similarly to
interviews or observations, whereas although data collection is a search systematically guided by
questions, educated hunches, and emerging findings, it should allow for the accidental
uncovering of valuable data, which can result from analyzing documents. They further encourage
the researcher to keep an open mind when discovering useful documents, where documents can
be online, visual (such as film, television, video, photography, and web-based), personal
documents, public documents (such as radio, newspapers, literary works, cartoons, and internet
sources), and physical materials. As such, this study collected several types of artifacts and
documents from practitioners, organizational leaders, and public sources. Public facing external
data included website information, and evidence of women’s initiatives to include marketing and
recruiting. Internal data included descriptions of training curriculum, professional development
support, diversity initiatives, incentives for participating in the women’s market, research
conducted, and evidence of collaboration with and contribution to the financial services
community. Some of the advantages in using documentary material is that it is objective data and
can verify emerging hypotheses, offer historical understanding, track change and development,
and furnish descriptive information (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
Credibility and Trustworthiness
Credibility and trustworthiness are critical in any research study. Qualitative research has
strategies for establishing the trustworthiness of a study, as the ability to believe and trust results
is particularly important in applied fields (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Such is the case for this
study, as financial advising is an applied field. Triangulation, respondent validation, and
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maximum variation in the sample were utilized to promote trustworthiness and credibility for
this study.
The strategy of triangulation reduces the risk of coincidental correlations and of
methodical bias (Maxwell, 2013). This well-known strategy uses multiple sources of data,
methods, investigators, and theories to confirm findings (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). A systematic
treatment of different methods of data collection serves as a check on one another in support of a
well-developed single conclusion (Maxwell, 2013).
In qualitative research, reflexivity is important to consider, as the researcher’s
background can impact the direction of the study, interpretation of data, and can advance values
and biases (Creswell, 2014). In this case, the researcher has 34 years of professional experience
in financial advising, where four years were as a financial advisor and 30 years were in
leadership. This experience provided for a seasoned understanding of the data collected. As a
further precaution, respondent validation, or member checks, helped the credibility of the
research, where some participants were consulted and asked for feedback on findings which
helped to overcome researcher bias, positionality, and misunderstanding of data (Merriam &
Tisdell, 2016).
Maximum variation in the study sample allowed for possibly greater transferability of
findings to a broader range of professionals (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016) in financial services.
This was accomplished by purposefully seeking variation in the sample selection to include
financial advisors who were geographically diverse and represented fraternal organizations,
traditional life insurers, multi-line companies, independent broker-dealers, wire-house advisors,
and registered investment advisors. Trustworthiness and credibility were important as they
evidenced the study’s dependability and consistency.
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Ethics
Ethical considerations were at the forefront of this study. Institutional Review Board
(IRB) rules and guidelines exist for the protection of participants (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016).
The IRB ensures that participants are informed about the nature and conditions of the research
project (Krueger & Casey, 2009). As such, to ensure that the rights and welfare of participants in
this study were protected, it was submitted to The University of Southern California Institutional
Review Board and was approved. This research project complied with all rules and guidelines.
The data collection included personal interviews and collection of documents and
artifacts. An important principle of ethical research is voluntary participation. Informed consent
forms describe the voluntary nature of the study and that participants can withdraw from the
study at any time (Glesne, 2011). An information fact sheet about the study was provided to
participants. Participant’s consent to authorize recording was recorded and captured in the
transcription of the interview.
Privacy is a primary concern for research participants (Glesne, 2011). Confidentiality was
maintained, as it was important for the beneficence of participants. Higher profile participants
with distinctively recognizable characteristics are often harder to disguise (Rubin & Rubin,
2012). As such, participant descriptions were sensitively formed to avoid identification.
Interviews and all data were labeled so that anonymity prevailed. The cross reference of
participant’s name to actual data was available only to the researcher.
When the researcher is the primary instrument for data collection, the ethical problem of
bias can arise as data is filtered through the researcher’s theoretical position (Merriam & Tisdell,
2016). The ethical principles that guide IRB review address the researcher’s qualification to
investigate, providing participants with adequate information to make informed choices about
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participation, risks to participants, and benefits outweighing risks (Glesne, 2011). In this case,
the researcher had 34 years of experience in delivering financial education and providing
financial planning services, investments, and insurance. The trustworthiness of a qualitative
study relies on the credibility of the researcher and their ability to carry out the study in an
ethical manner (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). In regard to ethics, the researcher had an unblemished
compliance record which included securities and insurance licensing, as well as 100% ethical
attestation for all professional designations held. This researcher followed IRB regulations and
procedures, as well as maintained a clear audit on data and findings, with a conscious focus on
reducing researcher bias.
The researcher held an executive leadership position with a professional association that
some of the participating companies belonged to. It was made clear that participation was not
tied to any benefits from the association, and that there were no repercussions or consequence for
non-participation, nor any advantage for participating, as this would have violated the ethical
principle of respect for persons. The researcher followed the principles of ethical research, thus
protecting the interests of the participants.
Limitations and Delimitations
The study has limitations and delimitations, where limitations of the study were
influences that the researcher could not control, and delimitations were boundaries set on the
study by the researcher. Limitations for this research included self-reporting of participants.
Delimitations included participants selected for the sample being based on a narrow and specific
criterion. Financial literacy was not actually being tested in this research study, and therefore was
a further delimitation.
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Although participation was voluntary and anonymous, truthfulness of the respondent was
a limitation which could not be controlled for. The interview questions were designed to
encourage response from the participants. However, a respondent could be hesitant to answer
particular items if they were concerned that anonymity could be breached. Questions relating to
the demographics of the advisor and their practice could create cause for concern in regard to
confidentiality. Questions about production revenue of their practice was a good example. It was
possible that if a respondent chose to answer the question, they could have over-stated or under-
stated the numbers, depending on their frame of reference regarding who they believed might
access their answers. The question of anonymity could be problematic when the details of the
participant were unique and hard to disguise (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Both data collection
methods were presented with Patton’s (2002) ethical checklist of 12 items which included a clear
explanation of confidentiality, data access and ownership, data collection boundaries, and
promises.
Narrowly defining the target population was a delimitation choice that had implications
for the data collection. By geographically limiting the sample to include only domestically
located financial advisors, the data collection did not have to be concerned with globally neutral
inquiry, but instead could more narrowly focus on issues prevalent in the United States. The
target population included financial advisors representing a wide range of distribution models.
All interview questions were targeted to American financial advisor practices, regardless of
organizational type, to address the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences of their
domestically based firms. The number of interviews conducted were enough to be representative
of advisors from all types of organizations surveyed. In purposeful sampling the size of the
sample is determined by informational considerations and is terminated when no new
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information is forthcoming (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The scope of this research was to explore
existing programs and to make recommendations for programs going forward. Although the
sample was domestic, this study may be found to have international implications, as lack of
financial literacy for women has been found to be a problem in other countries as well (Atkinson
& Messy, 2012).
Given the boundaries of the study, a possible delimitation was that financial literacy was
not evaluated, as such testing was beyond the scope of this research. The research studied
financial education as financial education has been found to impact financial literacy (Lusardi &
Mitchell, 2011a). The stakeholder of focus was the financial advisor, where the bound of the
study was limited to one aspect of their practice, which was the delivery of financial education to
female learners. The study did not measure the financial skills of the learners, but instead
observed the financial advisors’ ability to promote behavior and active participation by the
learners in financial education activities. This study collected data from advisors to measure their
effectiveness as defined by promoting subsequent participation in courses or in personalized
financial planning. This definition may be limiting and exclude other relevant indications of
effectiveness and subsequent involvement in financial education. Importantly, financial
knowledge has been found to positively influence wealth and financial capacity (Lusardi &
Mitchell, 2007a), supporting the case for a study of financial education.

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Chapter Four: Findings
The purpose of this study was to understand the advisors’ capacity to guide female clients
in attaining information regarding personal financial planning topics and to contribute to their
financial education in order to impact their financial literacy. The financial education programing
approach provided by financial advisors was examined. The purpose of the project was to
explore the degree to which the FASW financial advisors achieved the illustrative benchmark
goal of 51% active engagement in financial education for female clients, where 51%
symbolically represented the majority of clients. The analysis focused on knowledge, motivation
and organizational influences related to goal attainment for the stakeholder based on the Clark
and Estes’ (2008) framework. There were three groups of stakeholders: the financial services
companies, financial advisors who provided financial education for their female clients, and the
female clients who sought to learn more about personal financial planning topics that can be
applied in their lives. While the complete study would focus on all stakeholders, for practical
purposes the stakeholder of focus in this analysis were the financial advisors who provided the
education to the learner. Three questions guided this study:
1. What is the financial advisors’ knowledge and motivation related to facilitating active
engagement in financial education activities by their female clients?
2. What are the interactions between organizational culture and context and financial
advisors’ knowledge and motivation?
3. What are the recommendations for organizational practice in the areas of knowledge,
motivation, and organizational resources?

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Participating Stakeholders

Data was collected through individual interviews. Participants were identified as having a
demonstrated history of success and commitment to the women’s marketplace. These companies
and individuals served as exemplars for providing financial education to women. The
interviewees fell into two subgroups of financial services professionals. Fourteen financial
advisor practitioners were selected based on their qualification to be included in the grouping of
FASW. These interviewees were referred to as Participant 1 through Participant 14. Interviews
were also conducted with a group consisting of five executive leaders who represented
companies successful in the service of women’s financial needs. These interviewees were
referred to as Participant 15 through Participant 19. All interviews were recorded, except one.
The excluded interviewee felt a recording would require compliance approval, which had not
previously been requested. They felt comfortable that a non-recorded, anonymous, verbal
interview would be compliant. The interviews were further transcribed, and then coded using a
priori codes and in vivo codes.
The participant demographic information follows in narrative form. Exclusion of a
participant table was deliberate, as it could have jeopardized the preservation of the anonymity of
the participants and their companies. A participant table would have cross referenced, on a per
participant basis, their gender, years of financial industry service, size of team, designations,
higher education, distribution model(s), and gross revenue. The financial services community is
small enough that such a table would provide a risk of identification, and hence was not used.
There were several relevant interviewee demographics. The companies were all
domestic. One interviewee was male, and 18 interviewees were female. Financial services
organizations usually operate in more than one distribution model and provide services that fall
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62
into multiple categories. As such, financial professionals tend to identify with more than one
model, where models were defined in Chapter One in the “Definitions” section. The interviewees
for this study identified with eight financial services models: three were fraternal, one was multi-
line, two were wire-house, seven were traditional life, 14 were insurance agencies, 17 were full-
service financial advisors, 13 were RIA (Registered Investment Advisor) representatives, and
nine were independent financial advisors. The number of models to which individual participants
belonged ranged from one to five. The experience in financial services of the interviewees
totaled 398 years, ranged from five to 37 years, averaged 21 years of experience, and had median
experience of 20.5 years. The range of gross revenue of the interviewees fell into five income
bands; three were under $250,000, three were $250,000 to $500,000, two from $500,000 to
$750,000, one from $750,000 to $1,000,000, two over $1,000,000, and three were not stated.
Practitioner operations ranged in staff size from as small as one Financial Advisor with one part-
time staff to as large as a team of twenty-four.
The document analysis examined the websites and digital communication methodologies
of the interviewees and their companies. The analysis reviewed the public display of financial
education, organizational services, and organizational initiatives. The document observations
were considered in relation to the data gathered during the individual interviews. The document
analysis provided for a richer understanding of data collected from the interviews. The websites
and digital analysis were important compliments to the verbal interviews.
Findings
The findings address the first two research questions that guided the study. Based on the
data gathered from the interviews, the first section presents the knowledge and motivation
elements which a financial advisor must have in order to serve the women’s marketplace. The
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FASW interviewees agreed these included foundational facts and concepts that centered on
issues of extended longevity for women, financial security, and serving mutigenerational needs.
FASW advocated for strong relationship skills and personalized education for women, supported
by excellent presentation skills and practice infrastructure to support educational initiatives for
women. Organizational support evidenced in consumer-based research which studied gender
diversity, as well as support for advisors through education, marketing resources, and recruiting
of women. Document analysis reviewed the digital data used by participants as a compliment to
data gathered by interview. Interviewees expressed initiatives to provide financial education to
women involved cultural models and context not present in all financial organizations. The 19
interviewees were motivated to include women’s initiatives around financial education as a
priority. This study benefited from their knowledge of how to successfully deliver financial
education to women.
The first research question sought to establish the knowledge and motivation influences
for financial advisors as related to facilitating active engagement in financial education activities
for female clients. The influences of knowledge and motivation break into subsets of factual and
declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, metacognitive knowledge, self-efficacy, and goal
orientation. Knowledge findings are presented followed by motivational results and findings.
Financial Advisor Knowledge Findings
The study confirmed strong knowledge for advisors in specific areas that research stated
were important to serve the financial education needs of women. These knowledge influences
included specific educational topics, communication styles, intelligent approaches, professional
practices, educational delivery modalities, transferable personal experience, professional
capability, and personal and professional purpose. These subject areas were not exclusively
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applicable to women, but as their severity was often magnified for women, these areas were a
priority for advisor expertise.
Financial advisors reported in-depth knowledge about gender appropriate financial
facts and concepts. Interviewees confirmed that for financial education to be effective for
women, particular topics were considered to be critical knowledge for advisors. Interestingly, the
initial attention to these topics for some financial advisors were due to expertise developed from
personal experiences, with subsequent development of professional proficiency to further expand
knowledge to facilitate effective delivery in these areas for women. Additionally, knowledge of
financial education topics for women were found to be of dual purpose, as they served the needs
of men, too. The broad advantage for advisors to provide financial education purposefully
targeted to women was exemplified by Participant 1:
If we’re planning for the person that’s going to live longer on less money, the person
who’s going to live shorter on more, they should be covered. I think if you were just
focused on men, you're not going to be doing a service to women. But I think if you're
really trying to focus on women, it will also benefit the male clients too.
Participant 2 added, “The idea of catering towards women would be living longer. And so,
making sure that if we can all not run out of money. Of course, that would be the goal for
everybody.” Longevity joined other important gender inclusive topics which included long-term
care, widowhood, being an engaged and prepared financial participant, legacy planning, the
sandwich generation, learning through real world applications, and financial security.
Knowledge about long term care for women. The study confirmed that advisor
knowledge of long-term care for women was important and a priority. As women have longer
average life spans than men, women need to plan for a lengthier period of uncertain health care.
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The effects of financial decisions can have longer lasting impact, as with more years of life,
retirement assets can be strained as assets need to provide income for longer, making financial
education and planning even more critical. Participant 1 explained that financial education can
help advisors avoid the situation where, “I have to tell these people you don't have enough
money to continue to live independently and safely, and with all your health, until 100 years
old.” Participant 9 reported that, “Women will be a little more concerned about their care and
that as far as what's going to happen in their living situation, where the men don't seem to show
that quite as much.”
Long term care conversations were more prevalent with women than men, added
Participant 9, as, “It’s just more personal,” and “Long term care is more skewed to the women,”
observed Participant 11. Increased longevity for women created a great need for long term care
for women. Participant 4 explained:
They usually end up being caregivers and then living longer than their spouse. So, they
go from caregiver for their spouse into needing care themselves. They're not going to
have a spouse there to take care of them because in a lot of cases, statistically the male is
going to pass away before the female.
Echoed by Participant 8, “Long-term care, that’s a huge issue. If you're by yourself, who's going
to take care of you?” An increased chance of a longer life, with an uncertain health care
environment, benefits from preparation and guidance by financial advisors with longevity based
financial knowledge.
Knowledge about widowhood. As expected, based on the literature review and the
knowledge needed to be successful in advising women, supporting women to be a financially
informed and engaged spouse was a priority for the advisors. The transition from being a couple
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to being alone added complications for widows who were not financially educated. Advisors
shared stories of women who became widowed and had never written a check before, had no
knowledge of their assets or income, assumed they would be fine financially but had nothing in
their name, and women who did not understand their Social Security or where their income
would be coming from. The second part of these stories included the tremendous value that the
financial advisor brought to the situation. They educated widows on their specific financial
issues, guided their decision making, and helped create solutions for their survivorship. A
common, but not unanimous, procedure was expressed by Participant 7:
I have a standing rule that if they're married, I'm not working with them unless they're
both involved in the planning process. I don't care who's the decision maker, who's the
breadwinner. I'm not doing planning with one person if you're married.
Financial planning which includes both parties was seen as important for couples that are both
young and old. Participant 4 referenced that a young woman widowed, perhaps with children,
created added variables which would likely endure longer due to early widowhood and increased
longevity. Examples such as these illustrated the magnified need for financial advisors to be
knowledgeable in survivor’s needs for women.
Knowledge about intergenerational financial planning topics. As women often evaluate
financial decisions in terms of the impact on others, not just on themselves, financial advisors
need broad knowledge to address planning for multiple generations. “My female population
seem to be more part of the sandwich generation,” with more of a tendency to take on added
responsibilities, observed Participant 2. Not an uncommon sentiment shared by the interviewees,
women frequently take on the role of primary caregiver for their children, as well as for their
parents or grandparents, putting them in the middle of the generational sandwich. Advisors
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agreed that women are typically more interested in initiating conversations about educational
savings accounts, advanced healthcare directives, legacy planning, charitable giving, retirement
planning, and estate planning than men. Advisors focused financial planning education on these
topics for women, as “We're planning for the future. It’s not just their lifetime, but it's the lifetime
of their children and their grandchildren, or their charity. So, they've got a connection with the
future, which compels them to plan,” elaborated participant 7. Financial education was a center
piece for women to have the capability to plan for others, facilitated by financial advisors with
broad-based and deep expertise in intergenerational planning.
Knowledge of practical applications for women. Interviewees agreed that financial
education must be relevant and meaningful to women, “making it really personal with them with
examples and analogies,” Participant 5 explained. Additionally, “This makes a difference
between men and women on teaching. Women have to be able to say, yes, I do this in my daily
life.” Story telling is a very good illustrative tool for women as presented by Participant 10:
Related to an emotional side of that, with a story or some example of a strategy for a
woman based on where their place is in their life. If they're a widow, divorcee, married,
what generation they come from, I would very much design it to their specific situation.
There’s more storytelling and appeal to the emotions.
Consistent with the research, interviewees confirmed that women tend to seek out education and
knowledge when approaching or going through an important life event, or when in a crisis.
Education that is specific and responsive to the event was seen as necessary to be impactful and
actionable for women learners. As cited by Cohen and Nelson (2011), financial education is
optimal when relevant and useful. Advisors agreed that their role as good listeners was a critical
skill set, as listening provided the information necessary to understand and tailor communication
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and educational content. “I find that women clients are more open to receiving the education and
are always wanting more,” explained Participant 5. When financial education is personalized to
the learner, with specific financial advice, application is more meaningful (Fernandes et al.,
2014). Financial advisors’ successful delivery of financial education for women was enhanced by
knowledge of real stories that women related to as personally meaningful.
Knowledge about retirement planning and investing for women. As expected from the
literature review, interviewees demonstrated knowledge about retirement planning, investment
growth, and asset preservation. According to them, financial security equated to financial success
for women. Participant 15 referenced that “women said, I just want to know that I am going to be
okay.” Financial success meant that they would be able to take care of themselves, not be a
burden on family or friends, and that they would feel a sense of security inside. “It was more
around that sense of peace and confidence that they were going to be okay,” summarized
Participant 15. Participant 3 stated, “For women, money is security. Money is not prestige,
usually. And how we end up, we typically come out ahead in investing just because slow and
steady wins the race and it tends to be a woman's mindset.” Participant 15 stated:
We found that women are more successful at investing because they take longer to make
a decision, but once they make a decision, they don't move a lot. They tend to stick with
it, whereas the movement in and out of accounts, for example, that men tend to make, can
cause a loss of wealth, and a loss of rate of return because they're moving around too
much.
When women have money to invest, it is typically a “more cautious conversation,” described
Participant 3. To that end, advisors included retirement planning as a critical skill for financial
education, as women often experienced pay inequality, shorter working lifetimes, and often had a
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lower tolerance for risk. Therefore, how to take advantage of employer matching programs and
the steps to take in retirement planning, such as investing regularly and investing appropriately,
were seen as particularly important for advisor knowledge.
Financial advisors reported in-depth knowledge about financial education delivery.
Interviewees acknowledged that advisor knowledge and execution of practice management
processes contributed to the advisors’ ability to successfully provide financial education. They
found the practice of conducting regular client meetings solidified client relationships and
engagement in financial education. Excellent communication skills, both in group and individual
settings, were seen as critical advisor proficiencies. Advisors applied practice management
knowledge and skills to their organizational infrastructure to optimize support for the type of
educational programs provided, size of presentations, delivery modalities, and frequency of
meetings
Skills to personalize financial education for women. All FASW reported that an
established expectational set around the regularity of personal meetings was an important
component of their value proposition and their client relationships. Client relationships included
a foundation of trust, supported by client access to the advisor, and access to the advisors’
extended resources. These were important to establish a personal client connection and
receptivity to information and direction. Women were reported to respond well to availability of
the advisor and their team, whereas men were reported to not be as concerned. Participant 5
clarified, “I meet with my female clients six times a year on average. I meet with my male clients
one time a year on average.” All interviewees echoed regular meetings, of no less frequently than
annually, were part of their professional protocol. Quarterly meetings were also common. Other
advisors reported meetings as frequently as monthly, depending on the client need. Meetings
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were defined as an in-person meeting, or a phone call. All meetings were tailored to the needs of
the individual, where planning was based on client specific needs. Of note was that clients who
fell into this group excluded client subsets such as minors in the entertainment industry with
Coogan accounts, or employer groups with retirement plans such as 401(k) accounts or health
benefits, as these could be outside of this type of relationship. Procedural knowledge skills were
necessary for advisors to deliver personalized, regular, and periodic financial education.
All advisors expressed that personal meetings were the optimal vehicle to educate clients,
and therefore strong skills in conducting meetings were imperative. Tailoring meeting content,
and frequency, to the client was a confirmed skill for all participants. Participant 5 expressed, “I
tailor the way I do business to how the person sitting on the other side of the desk needs it to be
done.” It was part of the client service model, but even more to the point, part of what several
participants referred to as their “Client Care Model,” which supported their strong client
relationships. Advisors recognized that defining the client relationship was important for practice
management and included clarity around scope of services and expectation of value received
from the advisor. The advisor value proposition of Participant 8 was a representative example:
The value I bring them is to make sure their plans are doing what they need to be doing,
that they're planning well, and doing estate planning, but I think that falls back to the
comprehensive financial planning, just to make sure that all the pieces fit, even things
that don't have anything to do with me because I'm not a lawyer, I'm not a CPA, but all of
that matters to them, so it matters to me.
The comprehensive nature of the client-planner relationship was described by Participant 2 as a
“Holistic approach to financial planning, which means including everything that has to do with
money and coming up with some goals and ways for you to hopefully never run out of money.”
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This was facilitated by regular, frequent, and personalized meetings which result in applicable
financial education. As summarized by Participant 12:
I think if people are educated, they can make better decisions, and if they make better
decisions, they make better relationships. I'm not in the sales business, I'm in the
education business, and if I can show somebody something that makes sense to them
where they really understand it, then they will make a more competent decision which
helps everybody.
Critical advisor skills for conducting effective personalized meetings were further seen as
facilitated by knowledge of holistic planning.
Group presentation skills. Group presentation skills for advisors evidenced as an
important methodology for delivering financial education. Advisors referred to classes,
workshops, and seminars as representative of face-to-face methods of financial education for
groups. Larger scale distribution of financial education was accomplished through digital means
including websites, social media, newsletters, newspaper, and video. Interview data gathered
revealed that all of these tools were used in varying degrees. The document analysis section
addresses digital methods.
For all interviewees except one, group presentations were popular and considered to be
an included business plan component for their practices. The excluded advisor referenced doing
client appreciation events, but not educational seminars. Audiences for educational presentations
included client groups, the general public, non-profit groups, employer groups, targeted markets,
hosted presentations where the advisor was a guest speaker, and public service classes. Topics for
female audiences referenced during the interviews were budgeting, retirement planning, how
money really works, long term care, money lessons based on the experiences of the advisor, debt
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management, financial literacy for homeless shelters, financial literacy for active duty military
families and veterans, life insurance, educational funding, investments, tax strategies, and
charitable giving. The interviewees were comfortable with the role of educator and found, as
stated by Participant 1, that workshops were, “really motivating people, really helping them
understand.” Group presentation skills were important for advisors and included content
knowledge, delivery skills, and practice management infrastructure for delivery of financial
education sessions.
Financial advisors reported self-awareness in serving female clients. Metacognitive
knowledge is self-awareness with contextual relevance. For the interviewees, their personal
experiences and self-awareness of their proficiency to deliver financial education to women
played an important role. The interviewees displayed a deep sense of responsibility for their
clients, and a profound passion for providing financial education.
Knowledge of translatable personal experiences. Interviewees presented that the
importance of their knowledge and ability to provide transferable, relatable, and relevant
personal experiences, or the experiences of others, mattered in financial education for women.
Participant 16 observed about financial advisors that, “whether it's because of something that's
happened in their life, or they had financial planning, or they didn't have financial planning, and
what that meant to them and then having that commitment to serve others through that passion.”
Personal experience was often a source of professional direction.
All participants, regardless of gender, reported passionate advocacy for women’s
financial literacy. Well stated, Participant 10 expressed:
The passion really came about in my own experience working with, especially, married
women, and divorcees as well, that I found over the years just very much lacked in
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financial literacy, and in confidence in making financial decisions. Their lack of
confidence was built on their lack of understanding and education of financial investing
and decision-making. And because the common response to me was, "I don't understand
any of this," I proceed to do what I need to do. I said, "Thank you, but it is important to
me, and it should be very important to you, that you understand what we're doing and
why. Because that is going to give you confidence in making financial decisions, going
forward, that give you power in your life.” I think the more I witnessed, on a daily basis,
the lack of that understanding, and I still get it every day, has really developed my
passion for helping women.
Another advisor, who was a widow herself, had a client base with many single women and
placed being an informed financial decision maker as a priority for all clients. Participant 8
stated, “I find that it more typically is indeed the women who outlive the men. I have a lot of
elderly women. I have a lot of women between 70 to 95, but I don't have all that many men.”
Divorces were a personal experience that motivated many advisors to include it as a financial
education specialty. When dealing with divorce, financial education provided the path to
independence as described by Participant 7:
So that experience taught me how important it was for a woman, whether she's a
breadwinner or not, to be financially sound so that when life goes unplanned and you are
kind of blindsided, that you don't stay in a situation because you financially can't afford
to leave it.
Several female interviewees shared that they had the personal experience of being ignored in a
financial-services setting, so they were motivated to professionally advocate and model
respectful treatment of women through financial education. “I think part of the way society has
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treated women, and even to the point that it still is out there on feeling that women are not as
smart as men in finances is completely bogus,” stated the male interviewee. Self-awareness of
relevant personal experiences, or the targeted stories of others, served as knowledge influences
which resulted in passionate advocacy displayed by interviewees.
Knowledge of self-proficiency to educate women. The FASW were financial
professionals with success in the delivery of financial education to women and they shared what
things were needed to be successful in that regard. The ability to connect with the learner was
considered a prerequisite. This included relatable experiences, either professional, personal, or
borrowed from others, that were illustrative of the point being made. This involved
communication skills which included the delivery acumen of an experienced educator, as well as
the ability to be a good listener, in tune with the learner so as to responsively guide the
presentation. Financial education was viewed as a partnership, as described by Participant 2:
The way I manage my practice is like it's a partnership with my clients, and because of
that, in order to have a true partnership, you have to make sure that the other partner has
enough information to help make these decisions. So, I find myself educating my partner,
basically, so that they can make educated decisions. Otherwise, it seems like it's more of a
dictatorship type of practice. It’s just that I run mine more like a partnership. So, I have to
have an education component because of that.
The rewards for Participant 3 included, “I thoroughly enjoy just the teaching aspect of seeing the
lights come on for somebody and I've had people tell me, ‘You make it make sense.’”
Knowledge and motivation were positively influenced when advisors successfully delivered
financial education to women.

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Financial Advisor Motivation Findings
The interviews supported that there were specific motivational influences for financial
advisors to offer financial education to women. As knowledge and motivation work
cooperatively (Clark & Estes, 2008), the exploration of knowledge influences paved the way for
study of the participants’ motivations around financial education for women. Self-efficacy and
mastery goal orientation guided the understanding of motivational influences.
Financial advisors reported a high degree of self-efficacy in advising female clients.
Influencing interviewee motivation to deliver financial education were both capability and
competence. Self-efficacy reflected how qualified the advisor or company were, as well as how
they felt and perceived their qualifications. Context for self-efficacy included self-driven
education, education from companies, and mandated education for licensing and certifications.
Personal, professional self-efficacy. All interviewees reported motivation to participate
in education for themselves and reported to view being actively engaged as a student on financial
issues, and well educated, as mandatory to fulfill their expectations for high self-efficacy. The
interviewees had many degrees from Bachelor to Doctorate. Most had designations which
included CFP, ChFC, RICP, CDFA, FIC, and FICF. Interviewees said they sought relevant and
timely education from professional associations, professional networks, their companies, product
providers, and themselves. Reliance on their community network of professionals for education
was shared and illuminated by Participant 10:
Just being involved in my networking, I'm around attorneys and accountants and home
health care professionals, you name it, where we're always gleaning new information,
changes in regulations, tax law, estate planning, state tax law, that makes a change in
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some way we can design or strategize for a client with their needs. It's really important to
stay up on all that, and as those laws change, so do our strategies.
Self-study was described as common among interviewees, as all expressed motivation to be self-
reliant and to assume responsibility for their own capability. Interviewees reported that they did a
lot of self-directed reading, did their own due diligence, followed economics, and stayed current
on relevant news events. As examples, Participant 8 stated, “I'm paying attention to every issue
that's going to be important,” and Participant 14 added, “I'm always trying to stay on top of new
strategies or new things I can do to help people change their behavior and do what we know is
right for the client.” Required licensing to be in the financial services business consists of
passing national and state level exams and maintaining continuing education. Continuing
education also was required to keep designations current. Continuing education was considered
an important motivational influence for advisors, not only to maintain licensing, but as additional
sources of professional knowledge, capability, and confidence, thus contributing to advisor
expectations for high self-efficacy.
Collective, team self-efficacy. The education, experience, and professional excellence of
advisors’ teams were reported to contribute to advisors’ self-efficacy and impacted the successful
delivery of financial education to women. Team support included resources available from the
home offices, which most interviewees counted on. The practice’s strength to handle whatever
circumstances a client might present could require informational depth not available at the local
level, and hence the importance of ready access to additional layers of knowledge and
experience, the availability of which was seen to promote client stability and client retention.
When team members were experienced, it was viewed to create credibility for the educational
content presented. Client access to the team was seen as critical and considered to promote client
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receptivity, lead to trusted relationships, and help clients feel more comfortable with their
implementation and decision making. Participant 12 explained that experience and stability of
the team were important, because:
My team is very strong. They've been with me a long time and I think that the
consistency we provide, and the access we provide is very comforting to a client and
we'll meet with every client, every year. And if they want to more often than once a year,
we're always available by phone…it’s a very stable, open, responsive environment for a
client to be in.
The need for continual learning and staying current is inherent to the financial services business.
When describing the importance of personal growth, Participant 9 stated,
You have to challenge yourself because as soon as you think you know everything,
you've got to go, wait a sec, I really don't know everything. I know maybe 10% of what I
should know. And that's how you stay current. You've got to have people around you that
will challenge you.
High standards for capable and competent delivery of financial education for women was
indicated by interviewees to be an important motivational influence on the financial advisor and
their team.
Financial advisors reported mastery orientation in serving female clients.
Professional and personal commitment to providing financial education to women evidenced as
impacted by the financial professional’s mastery goal orientation. The components of mastery
goal orientation require high self-efficacy, as well as motivation to keep education in the
forefront of advisor activities, and motivation to deliver financial education well. All
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interviewees considered financial education of high importance in their professional value
proposition.
Commitment to providing quality financial education to women. The interview data
gathered supported financial education as a considered priority and an ongoing commitment for
excellence for the interviewees. When asked to rank the importance of financial education on a
scale of one to ten, with ten being the highest, all participants ranked it as ten. When asked to
rank the importance of financial education for women, all but two ranked it as ten, where the
other rankings of nine and eight, still ranked as high. All FASW considered regular financial
education as a center piece for their client relationships. They made adjustments to their practices
in order to maintain their mastery orientation and goals for the educational process. Moderating
the size of their client base to facilitate education was common and was exemplified by
Participant 8, “I try to keep a smaller book of business that's attainable, that I can talk to every
year, everyone.” It was presented as a principal part of many advisors’ value proposition and core
to their practice process. For example, Participant 4 shared, “For me, it's doing the altruistic
thing… also being there to help these people.” Participant 10 added, “It's such a huge
responsibility, I feel the weight of that because of the impact on families for generations.” The
feeling was shared by interviewees that women’s financial education was important due to
women being historically underserved in this arena. An example of support for education was
explained by Participant 4:
I am just a huge proponent of education. And to understand why you're doing what you're
doing. And give people the tools so that they can think through the process and not just
do it, because I don't think you grow and learn unless you are educated.
Also illustrative of commitment, Participant 5 described, “I don't want to say the word ethical.
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It's just a strong belief that I believe it should be done this way. I just think we need to educate
people.” Advisors stated they were committed and motivated to provide financial education for
women, prioritized it in their professional and personal goals, and exhibited their commitment to
mastery-orientation throughout the interviews.
Interaction between Financial Advisor Knowledge, Motivation, and Organizational
Influences
The second research question explored the interaction between organizational culture and
context and financial advisors’ knowledge and motivation. The interviews addressed the cultural
models and cultural settings of the organizations represented by the interviewees. The cultural
model influences related to recognition of gender diversity in financial decision making and the
need to recognize the importance of gender diversity in financial advice. The cultural setting
influences addressed support resources for financial advisors, organizational initiatives, and
marketing for women’s financial education. The data gathered from interviews with executive
leadership complemented data gathered from practitioners, which rounded out the impact of
organizational influences, and provided a window of perception from the field and the home
offices. The interview data gathered were exemplars of successful organizational financial
education strategies and were representative of the impact on the knowledge and motivation of
advisors in service to the women’s market.
Organizational emphasis on gender diversity in financial decision-making facilitated
effective skills for advisors to serve women. Knowledge and motivation of financial advisors
were considered to be positively influenced by the culture of service which was common across
all organizations. Values-based leadership surrounded financial education initiatives, as well as
goals to effectively “give back” to the communities served. Executing initiatives with the field
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were areas of corporate support, enhanced by engagement for gender awareness. This was
supported by Participant 17’s statement of, “obviously women add a different dimension to
initiatives and to your company and to markets, and we would be foolish to ignore that.”
Organizational emphasis on studying, conducting, and implementing research about
gender diversity provided valuable resources. Consumer-focused research provided by
organizations was relevant and foundational information for financial advisors to facilitate
effective financial education for women. Understanding the processes that women exhibit when
making financial decisions was seen as an ongoing area of organizational support for advisors’
knowledge. As Participant 19 explained, “The organization was aware of the fact that women
and men behave differently when it comes to long-term finances. And there is a difference in
their confidence level and the type of actions that women take versus men.” Participant 15
referenced research that showed women’s financial decision-making behaviors to include four
phases; the need for a trusting relationship with the advisor, an awareness of their problem and
the advisors’ ability to provide a solution, the consideration of related information and education,
and the last phase of taking action and implementing their solutions. Another observation by
Participant 15 was, “A lot of women are able to think about the rippling effects of their financial
decisions, as women are often at the center of that family unit. There's a sense of responsibility
or obligation that is different than men.” Regarding risk, Participant 15 continued, “It's not that
women don't want to take risks, but they really do think about the risks they’re taking a little
differently than men do.” Financial service organizations’ ongoing inquiry into how women
approach consumerism provided organizational intelligence and support for financial advisors as
they endeavored to provide financial education for women.
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Organizational support for financial education influenced advisors’ knowledge and
motivation to facilitate better inclusion of women in the financial decision-making process.
Although some interviewees reported that their female clients were predominately the primary
decision makers in financial planning, that was not the case in all situations. It was frequently
referenced that historically, there had not been a common awareness to include all parties in the
client-planner relationship. Participant 1 described:
I've had people that have had other advisors where the advisor always only talked to the
man or ignored the woman. The woman might not say anything in the room, but it's
definitely discussed later. I'm still talking to them 100%, always addressing both the
people equally.
The approach of holistic financial planning was commonly held by the interviewees. It was
described by Participant 10 as involving, “the total picture, the snapshot of their life, and all their
goals and objectives for their family and their retirement, everything, and put together a strategic
plan and a strategy for them.” Explained by Participant 2, women are, “more apt to make
decisions together,” and hence it is important, “to pay attention to both parties.” Participant 6
recommended to, “engage both clients from the beginning, as 70% of clients change advisors
with a death or divorce.” Organizations shared this concern and in response viewed financial
decisions as optimally not occurring in isolation without both partners, but as a holistic part of
the client’s plan. Organizational resources provided advisors with tools to help clients develop
decision making skills, where financial education was foundational. As financial education
provided a vehicle for engagement and retention for advisors with clients, organizations provided
this support as a best practice.
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Organizations emphasized gender diversity in financial advice. Organizational emphasis
on financial education for women lead to recruiting initiatives to find advisors to serve the
women’s market. Organizational understanding of the female decision-making process, with the
support of initiatives around financial education for women, created a path of access to gender
appropriate financial advising. The interviewees were asked to estimate the percentage of
financial advisors at their companies that specialized in the financial needs of women. The
highest estimate was 100%, with a low of 10% to 15%, with most estimates at less than or equal
to 50%. Many equated this to advisors being female, and with the typically lower number of
female advisors, this presented a recruiting gap for organizations. It also presented a potential
educational gap for all advisors, both male and female, to be better equipped to serve female
clients. Women were seen as a viable business focus, as Participant 10 observed, “95% of all
women will have total control of the family assets at some point in their life.” Although,
Participant 17 stated that the marketplace, “is not exclusive served by women,” the “assumption
that women only work, or want to work, in the women’s market…that's not true.” Interviewees
reported that the majority of the advisors in their organizations embraced financial education.
This was important as financial education was considered an important step for women to engage
in financial advising. Organizational emphasis and capacity to provide gender diverse advisory
services involved recruiting financial advisors to the opportunity who were influenced by
motivation and knowledge to serve the women’s market.
Organizational emphasis on training and infrastructure to support efforts of
financial advisors to serve female clients. Concrete organizational actions had impact on
advisors’ capacity to provide effective advising. Organizational support for skill development of
financial advisors benefitted all stakeholders. Organizational marketing and initiatives, or their
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absence, influenced financial advisors’ knowledge and motivation to provide financial education
to women.
Training and support. Financial education for women and financial planning presented
as areas considered important for organizational support. Seen as part of their culture,
organizations provided dedicated staffing and support for advisors. Participant 19 reaffirmed that
for their advisors, “Financial education is really the way that they do business and is the way that
they're trained to do business,” where providing access to deep resources for advisors was a
priority. Additionally, Participant 18 positioned organizational support as:
We really kind of see ourselves as a sounding board too, once our producers out in the
field know that they can reach out to us with questions, with where to go, that really helps
us. So, we really also see ourselves as a support network, as it's a really important part of
how we support our producers in the field.
Participant practice management was also included in organizational support available for
advisors. As the larger and more complex the service offerings of the advisor, such as providing
financial education, the more infrastructure support was needed. A committed focus was on
elevating the expertise of the advisor to educate competently with organizational support, which
provided a positive knowledge influence for advisors.
Organizationally provided training included awareness of differences needed to work
with women in communication, style, and language. Participant 16 shared the example that, “If a
woman's sitting at the table nodding it doesn't mean she agrees with you, it just means she's
tracking.” There was an emphasis on selecting words such as, “solutions and process” stated
Participant 14. Participant 11 discussed the communication staples of, “trying to be a good
listener and asking thought provoking questions to understand their full situation.” For advisors
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to develop their presentation skills and teaching acumen, Participant 16 identified that there was
support in the field for practice through role play, support at conferences, and supportive on-line
resources. Training to build skills to work with women were offered frequently, and even
repeatedly, to keep the initiative fresh and top of mind. Some organizations utilized other
professional associations’ conferences for educational opportunities, networking, and to utilize
and contribute to the women’s market resources. Mentorships and showcasing the
accomplishments of successful peers were used. Organizational training support leveraged both
internal and external resources and influenced meaningful skill development and motivation for
advisors.
Infrastructure to support field initiatives. Financial education not only found support at
the organizational level, but the tools to accomplish the task of educating were often made
available to advisors. Financial seminars for women were obtainable with scripts, power points,
and marketing materials. Compliance approved seminars facilitated ease of use. Some seminars
were created with field input. Seminars were intended for advisor use, and in some cases even
presented for the advisor by an expert. Marketing was facilitated at the local level by some
organizations, as the thinking was that it belonged in the community being served. Other
companies centralized marketing for consistent and repeatable messaging, as illustrated by
Participant 19:
We do several marketing programs directly to women that then create leads for our
advisors. We position through those marketing programs, we showcase our advisors and
put them in front of women, so then women understand how easy it is to work with the
advisors. So, we do all of this to help our advisors.
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Participant 19 added, “the field, I think their area of expertise is providing advice and working
with clients, not necessarily doing marketing to get a set of messages out.” Organizations utilized
other marketing campaigns, public service programs, and sponsorships. Participant 18 shared
another initiative was the recruiting of women. “They’re really focusing on recruiting women. I
think it’s because women want to be educated, and they want to educate.” Tangible
organizational support for financial education for women positively influenced advisors’
knowledge and motivation, as support materials and marketing were useful resources.
Impact of organizational influences on financial advisors’ knowledge and
motivation. The cultural models and cultural settings of the organization presented as an
influence on the financial advisors’ knowledge and motivation to provide financial education to
women. As advisors typically shared common values and beliefs with their organization in
regard to financial education, efforts intended to support and reinforce local efforts, were usually
welcomed, and resulted in positive motivation and benefits for the advisor. Organizational efforts
to recognize gender diversity in financial decision-making and in financial advice added to, and
were reported to influence, the knowledge and motivation of the field through supplemental
resources and support for financial education efforts. Skill development programs which
provided added opportunities of professional and personal growth in content, sales, and practice
management, added knowledge resources, and were seen as motivational. Organizational
initiatives, in partnership with the field, supported all stakeholders through execution of financial
education for women. Interviewees were united in their belief and commitments to financial
education for women and shared mutual benefit from organizational influences as knowledge
and motivation were considered enhanced. An encouraging comment from Participant 17
regarding the future of organizational women’s initiatives was, “There is a general understanding
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that thinking about women should just be business as usual. It should always be in the
conversation, in everything we do.”
Document Analysis
The document analysis and review addressed digital communication methods utilized by
the interview participants. Personal and organizational websites of participants were examined
for the study, whereas interview data guided the analysis of other digital methods. Data gathered
in the interviews with the 19 participants discussed these distribution methods as vehicles for
financial education.
Websites were more than just a digital business card. The websites of the interviewees
were examined for the document analysis portion of the data gathering. Websites were used by
all interviewees. Only four participants did not have personal sites and utilized their
organization’s site. All websites were compliance approved for use by the public, serving as
highly visible, reliable, and accessible financial resources. Of interest was whether the externally
facing messaging of the websites aligned with the information presented in the interviews, which
represented the organizational internal messaging. This was found to be the case for all, as
websites aligned with the interview data collected. All websites provided educational content and
served as resources for educational articles, videos, slide presentations, interactive calculators,
links to deeper resources, and opportunities to request personal contact. Although rarely focused
on the specific needs of women, websites provided financial education content and a digital
business card for organizations and advisors.
Websites were further reviewed through the lens of 10 broad categories with 12
additional subcategories. The category of financial education was important for review.
Information on financial education was presented in 63% of the websites. Educational resources
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included delivery through calculators, videos, and articles. Financial education specifically
addressing women and gender differences in financial planning were covered on only 33% of the
sites. Subcategories of general educational topics that were found to be of relevance to women,
were available on the majority of the sites and included widowhood, divorce, care giving,
educational funding, retirement planning, insurance, investments, tax planning, estate planning,
legacy planning, and financial planning. Financial literacy was addressed on only 26% of the
sites, financial literacy for women was addressed on only 21%, and gender specific resources to
serve women were referred to in 26% of the sites. Research efforts of the organizations were
listed twice, as were collaborative works with other organizations. Websites were an accessible
source of financial education, where traffic was proactively driven, as well as where targeted
financial information was available to be independently retrieved.
Organizational influences on financial education for women were expressed through their
enterprise websites. Predominantly, home pages showed the organization’s philanthropic support
for communities, portraying a corporate culture of giving and putting individuals first. A
commitment to client education evidenced through content centered on individual needs. Content
covered well the primary financial knowledge needs of women. Financial planning, retirement
planning, investments, and insurance were covered in 100% of sites, whereas topics of financial
education, widowhood, care-giving, divorce, and educational funding were included in 68% to
89%. While financial literacy was covered in 44%, only 22% of sites referenced financial
literacy for women. Although no sites directly recruited to the women’s market, it was
noteworthy that the majority of sites referred to gender specific resources for serving the
financial needs of women. An attractive organizational positioning for recruiting women as
clients and advisors, sites exhibited the interest and intent of organizations to participate in, and
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influence, the women’s market. Sites included resources to contact the company directly for
further information, to find an advisor to connect with, and to inquire regarding a career. As these
organizational websites provided financial education resources for individuals and advisors, they
provided helpful and accessible knowledge with potential influence on financial education for
women.
Financial advisors’ personalized websites were vehicles which displayed advisor
knowledge and motivation to provide financial education, were topically relevant to women, but
did not exhibit intentional targeting of women. Sites varied greatly by size and depth. Content
typically covered the areas of primary financial knowledge concerns for women. Topics of
financial planning, investments, insurance, and retirement planning were covered in 90% to
100% of the sites. Financial education, widowhood, care-giving, divorce, educational funding,
tax planning, estate planning, and legacy planning were included in 50% to 80% of the sites.
Although the sites were educational by design, financial literacy and financial literacy for women
were referenced in only 20% of the sites. Advisor sites served as a resource for clients and
potential clients and were not used to recruit advisors. The inclusion of specific knowledge areas
demonstrated advisor commitment to the importance of these topics. While not focused on
women directly, websites presented the advisor as knowledgeable and motivated to serve in these
critical areas of financial education for women.
Newsletters, periodic updates, and social media delivered financial education
digitally. Other digital communication methods such as personal and organizational newsletters,
periodic updates, and social media were also used to deliver financial education by the advisors.
Fifty percent of the practitioners utilized newsletters. Newsletters were distributed annually,
semi-annually, quarterly, and monthly, where monthly was the dominant frequency. Participants
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heavily relied on the effectiveness of the newsletters to deliver important financial education.
Newsletter information included such topics as updates and changes in the financial landscape
that could be of financial impact or concern, economic updates, relevant topics based on a
segmented group distribution, financial deadlines, and tax rules.
Similar to newsletters, periodic informational updates were used by 50% of the
practitioners interviewed. These outreaches were either broadly distributed to clients or targeted
to specific groups of recipients. Some updates were a particular call to action for the recipient, as
well as intended to deliver timely financial education and information.
LinkedIn and Facebook were minor sources of financial education. Social media was
utilized by all but one interviewee. LinkedIn was used by all others, while Facebook was used by
less than half. Organizational compliance restrictions limit social media usage. The financial
education delivered using social media was organizationally preapproved content and
infrequently used by the interviewees.
Some interviewees were more in the public eye than others. This included being
published as an author, interviewed by publications, a guest speaker, a regular newspaper
columnist, or featured in other media outlets. These interviewees considered utilizing mass
media opportunities as an important source of educational outreach to women on financial topics.
Digital methodology was used to distribute this, and other, financial education to a broad range
of recipients, as well as to provide targeted education to specific and segmented groups.

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Chapter Five: Recommendations
The implementation and evaluation plan for this study provides broad recommendations
for financial services organizations to support financial advisors in the delivery of financial
education to women. This takes the form of organizationally provided training for financial
advisors to facilitate their skills to effectively provide financial education courses for women.
Clark and Estes’ (2008) gap analysis is of benefit in supporting this initiative, where
recommendations are made for knowledge, motivation, and the organizational support necessary
for goal attainment. In order for the financial advisor to have the knowledge to deliver financial
education, they must include knowledge influences that are declarative, procedural, and
metacognitive. Context specific knowledge recommendations provide for job aids to understand
the components of gender appropriate financial education, as well as presentation preparation,
practice, and follow up. The motivational influences are goal orientation and self-efficacy. The
context-specific motivational recommendations are for training in delivery of financial education
to include mastery goal setting and attainment, development of competence and confidence, and
presentation skills with feedback from qualified observers. Organizational support is very
important for financial advisor goal attainment. The organizational influences of cultural models
and cultural settings are needed to support the delivery of financial education to women. The
context-specific organizational recommendations include organizational demonstration of
support for gender relevant initiatives to include recruiting women as financial advisors,
providing marketing resources to promote financial education, and providing professional
development and financial education resources for financial advisors.
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The New World Kirkpatrick Model informs the implementation and evaluation plan for
the training and development program (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016a). The New World
Model’s first principle is to begin evaluation at the end, starting with Level 4 Results. Results-
based evaluation involves external and internal outcomes, measured through specific metrics and
methodologies. A focus on results is expedient for immediate program intelligence, for
modifying and adjusting the program, for capturing successes, and for immediate reporting. All
four levels provide important data with which to evaluate program effectiveness, are useful in
making data-based decisions regarding training programs, and for providing training-based
communication to stakeholders. Level 3 evaluates if required drivers are present to support
critical behaviors. The methods for required drivers are reinforcement, encouragement, rewards,
and monitoring. They are measured by specific metrics and timing. In general, Level 3 is the
most important level to evaluate and invest in, as without application, training will not contribute
to organizational results, and will therefore, be of little value to the organization (Kirkpatrick &
Kirkpatrick, 2016b). Level 2 learning goals demonstrate the influences of declarative knowledge,
procedural skills, attitudes, confidence, and commitment to meet the expectation that participants
are prepared. Level 1 measurement of Reaction to the program utilizes methods or tools of
engagement, relevance, and satisfaction during and after the training to evaluate if the program
met expectations and was well-received. Immediate and delayed evaluation tools are provided to
be administered during, immediately after, and following training. Data analysis and reporting is
critical for reflection and execution of the program. A Data Dashboard is provided for ongoing
goal setting, goal attainment, and goal reporting.
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Recommendations for Practice to Address KMO Influences
Organizational support provides critical resources for facilitation of financial education
for women. The recommendations for knowledge, motivation, and organizational support will be
implemented through training provided by financial services organizations. The training for
financial advisors will implement Level 2 goals for learning which are strategies to build skills
for the knowledge, motivation, and application of organizational support resources for financial
advisors to plan for, execute, and follow up on financial educational programming for women.
Maximizing the effectiveness of educational programing will promote attainment of the
engagement goals for participants. Presentation modality and methodology for Level 2 learning
is recommended to be flexible and accommodative to the needs of the organization and the
financial advisor audience, whether delivered in person, virtually, live, pre-recorded, in a group
setting, or individually presented. The training program will be evaluated for execution of the
Level 2 learning goals. These learning goals cover skills to include confidence, commitment,
values, attitude, metacognition, procedural, and declarative factual. The evaluation of these
program learning components will be conducted before the program delivery, during the
program, and after the program, as they are critical to the success of the stakeholder goals.
Knowledge Recommendations
Introduction. The summary of knowledge influences and recommendations presented in
Table 5 represent the complete list of knowledge influences, principles and citations, and context
specific recommendations, with regard to the stakeholder’s ability to accomplish their goals.
Data gathered during semi-structured interviews with financial advisors and executive leadership
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were used to validate the influence of declarative, procedural, and metacognitive knowledge on
the financial advisors’ ability to deliver financial education to women. As referenced by Rueda
(2011), the key goal in learning is knowledge, where the four knowledge dimensions are factual
declarative, conceptual declarative, procedural, and metacognitive. The examination of these
knowledge types contributed to the diagnosis of performance gaps, where performance gaps are
caused by lack of knowledge or skills (Clark and Estes, 2008). All knowledge influences were
validated through the data collection process and were considered as priorities.
Table 5
Summary of Knowledge Influences and Recommendations
Knowledge Influence* Principle and Citation Context-Specific Recommendation
Financial advisors need to
know what gender
appropriate financial
education content and
materials look like (D).
Procedural knowledge
increases when declarative
knowledge required to
perform the skill is
available or known (Clark
& Estes, 2008).
Provide a job aid that contains a listing
or chart of key items to look for in
materials, that should be included or
excluded, to include vocabulary,
concepts, visual appearance, and
language usage.

Financial advisors need to
know what financial facts,
concepts, processes, skills,
techniques, and principles
are needed by women for
financial decision-making.
(D)
Help individuals
meaningfully organize and
connect new knowledge to
prior knowledge to
construct meaning
(Schraw & McCrudden,
2006).
Provide a job aid that includes a
clearly structured chart that shows
financial curricula needed for women
based on progressive levels of
difficulty.

Financial advisors need to
know how to design and
deliver relevant content for
women who study financial
planning topics. (P)
Provide time to observe
models, then organize,
rehearse, and practice
what they have learned
(Mayer, 2011).
Provide presentation skills training
with expertise-based demonstrations,
with opportunities to practice, and to
receive feedback from experienced
reviewers.
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Financial advisors need to
be self-aware regarding
their level of proficiency in
delivering educational
content to women. (M)
Provide opportunities for
learners to engage in self-
assessment before, during,
and after learning (Baker,
2006).
Provide training in how to review
presentation proficiency based on a
check list which includes a self-review
of preparation for delivery, the
execution of delivery, and a results-
based follow up after delivery.
*Indicated knowledge type for each influence listed using these abbreviations: (D) Declarative;
(P) Procedural; (M) Metacognitive.
Job aid for advisors identifies gender appropriate educational content. Financial
advisor knowledge of what financial facts, concepts, processes, skills, techniques, and principles
are needed by women for financial decision-making is the declarative knowledge influence of
focus. This declarative knowledge influence is a substantive prerequisite to the other declarative
knowledge influence, which addresses the gender appropriateness of the material’s presentation,
and hence is the influence of focus. It is recommended to provide a job aid, which includes a
clearly structured chart, that shows financial curricula needed for women based on progressive
levels of difficulty. The job aid will help the financial advisor identify necessary content in
financial education materials, as well as to identify omitted topics or missing prerequisite skill
development. This is based on the principle that when individuals meaningfully organize and
connect new knowledge to prior knowledge, it helps to construct meaning (Schraw &
McCrudden, 2006).
The job aid considers four areas of focus which includes specific content, level of
difficulty, target audience, and application. Defining the target audience of learners is relevant for
the job aid design, as it is influenced by subject matter needed to be covered, age, life stage,
depth needed, immediacy of need, and relevant application. When identifying the difficulty of
the content, financial topics build from simpler information to topics with higher levels of
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complexity. Financial topics can broadly start with a foundation of cash reserves, build next to
risk management, then to investments, income planning, retirement planning, tax planning, and
end with estate planning. Topics can overlap, change relative position, and influence each other.
For example, topics important to women, such as insurance, educational funding, and long-term
care, can all have a presence in each of the topics referenced with varying levels of
sophistication. Job aids can also confirm meaningful examples of application by topic area and
audience interest. Job aids for advisors are recommended to cross check for appropriate topics,
level of difficulty, illustrative applications, and audience specifics to assure meeting the
educational needs of learners and to maximize advisor preparedness.
The job aid organizes financial content from simple to complex. Intrinsic load can be
managed by segmenting complex material into simpler parts, and along with other strategies,
enables learning to be enhanced (Kirshner, Kirshner, & Paas, 2006). Presenting information in
manageable parts manages intrinsic load (Mayer, 2011), and helps individuals to identify and
understand important points (Schraw & McCrudden, 2006). When new information is connected
to prior knowledge, it helps to increase germane load (Mayer, 2011). The elements of successful
financial education are optimal when defined by relevance, usefulness, and quality of delivery
(Cohen & Nelson, 2011), as well as practical for real life situations (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2007b),
and applicable to daily needs and improved financial choices (Harnish, 2010). As gender
appropriate financial education helps to improve learning and financial literacy for women
(Lusardi & Mitchell, 2011b), the recommended use of the job aid will help financial advisors
identify relevant financial curricula for women.
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Presentation training for advisors includes design and delivery skills using guided
practice. Procedural knowledge refers to knowing how to do something and includes methods
of inquiry, specific skills, techniques, and methodologies to accomplish a particular task (Rueda,
2011). Financial advisors need to know how to design and deliver relevant content for women
who study financial planning topics. Generally, a typical financial education course is delivered
in-person as a seminar, or workshop, and can include individual meetings (Lyons et al., 2006). It
is recommended to provide financial advisors presentation skills training with expertise-based
demonstrations, with opportunities to practice, and to receive feedback from experienced
reviewers.
The recommendation for presentation skills training provides the opportunity to assess
learning by observing what individuals demonstrate. Demonstration and modeling help learners
acquire new behaviors, providing opportunities to check progress and adjust learning strategies
as needed (Denler et al., 2006). Mayer (2011) recommended providing guidance, modeling, and
coaching during performance-based learning, while providing time to observe models, then
organize, rehearse, and practice what has been learned. Feedback that is immediate, reinforcing,
(Tuckman, 2009), timely, specific, private, and linked to learning strategies enhances
performance (Shute, 2008). Modeled behavior is more likely to be adopted if the model is
credible, similar, and the behavior has functional value (Denler, Wolters, & Benzon, 2006),
emphasizing the importance of credible models with relevant expertise. As financial education is
delivered in person by financial advisors, the evidence supports the recommendation to improve
skills through modeled and guided practice.
Presentation checklist guides advisors’ self-evaluation of proficiency in preparation,
delivery, and follow up. Financial advisors need to be self-aware regarding their level of
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proficiency in delivering educational content to women. Metacognition involves knowledge
about one’s own cognition (Krathwohl, 2002). The metacognitive goals for the financial advisor
involve their own skills and applicable tools as educators. As such, the guiding principle is to
provide opportunities for learners to engage in self-assessment before, during, and after learning
(Baker, 2006). It is recommended that training be provided in how to review presentation
proficiency based on a check list which includes a self-review of preparation for delivery, the
execution of delivery, and a results-based follow up after delivery.
Financial advisors who are aware of their strengths and weaknesses as financial
educators, cognizant of why they are educating, and able to consider the contextual and
conditional aspects of the educational program, have metacognitive knowledge, as defined by
Rueda (2011). Metacognition is enhanced when the financial advisor, as facilitator, is involved
with their own learning, where Mayer (2011) included awareness and control of the process,
practice with feedback and vicarious reinforcement as factors that increase positive behaviors
and learning. Providing opportunities for guided self-monitoring and self-assessment, to include
feelings and personal perspectives before, during, and after (Baker, 2006) can help the advisors’
learning. Dembo and Eaton (2000) recommended teaching learners strategies to manage
motivation, time, learning strategies, control of physical and social environment, and to monitor
performance. Therefore, it is recommended for financial advisors to self-review before, during,
and after delivery of financial education, utilizing the self-assessment checklist, for enhanced
metacognitive knowledge.

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Motivation Recommendations
Introduction. The summary of motivational influences and recommendations presented
in Table 6 represent the complete list of motivational influences, principles and citations, and
context specific recommendations, with regard to the stakeholder’s ability to accomplish their
goals. Data gathered during semi-structured interviews with financial advisors and executive
leaders were used to validate the motivational influences of goal orientation and self-efficacy on
the financial advisors’ motivation to engage in financial education specifically tailored to the
needs of women and their ability to deliver programs. Motivation, not knowledge and skills, is
often found to be the reason for gaps in current performance and the levels required to achieve
goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). As knowledge stores experience and guides how to do things, and
motivation keeps individuals going and moving, they work together (Clark & Estes, 2008).
Motivation can be identified and measured by assessing choice, persistence, and mental effort
(Clark & Estes, 2008; Rueda, 2011). Both motivational influences were validated through the
data collection process and were both considered priorities.
Table 6
Summary of Motivation Influences and Recommendations
Motivation Influence Principle and Citation Context-Specific
Recommendation
Financial advisors need to have
a mastery goal orientation
regarding the delivery of
financial education to female
clients (Goal Orientation).
Focusing on mastery,
individual improvement,
learning, and progress
promotes positive
motivation (Yough &
Anderman, 2006).
Goals motivate and direct
students (Pintrich, 2003).
Provide training to learn how
to choose and develop goals,
how to acquire skills to attain
the goals, and how to execute
on a mastery orientation
where there is true
understanding and self-
improvement.
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Financial advisors need to
believe that they can
effectively teach financial
education to women clients
and encourage their ongoing
financial education (Self-
Efficacy).
High self-efficacy can
positively influence
motivation (Pajares, 2006).

Feedback and modeling
increase self-efficacy
(Pajares,2006).
Provide training to facilitate
confidence and competence in
the execution of delivery
skills, with feedback from
qualified observers who have
expertise in presentation skills
and are subject matter experts
in financial content.

Train advisors to set and achieve goals for successful financial education execution.
Goal orientation considers the purposes or reasons for engaging in achievement behaviors
(Rueda, 2011), with a focus on mastery goals. Financial advisors need to have a mastery goal
orientation regarding the delivery of financial education to female clients. This is based on the
underlying principle that a focus on mastery, individual improvement, learning, and progress
promotes positive motivation (Yough & Anderman, 2006). Goals motivate and direct students
(Pintrich, 2003). It is recommended that training be provided to learn how to choose and develop
goals, how to acquire skills to attain the goals, and how to execute on a mastery orientation
where there is true understanding and self-improvement.
Motivation to succeed and excel is stimulated when goals are set and accomplished,
where a skill set for effective goal setting can facilitate the financial advisor goal of providing
educational programs for female clients. Yough and Anderman (2010) defined goals as either
mastery or performance, where a mastery-orientation is about true understanding and self-
improvement. A mastery goal orientation leads to approaching a task for reasons such as to learn
and gain new competence in order to accomplish a challenging activity (Rueda, 2011). Rueda
(2011) further discussed goal orientation as an important motivational construct, where goals are
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something that a person wants to achieve and are a pattern of beliefs representing ways to
respond to achievement situations. Learners, or financial advisors in this setting, should be
encouraged to set productive goals that are challenging but achievable, and encourage self-
evaluation, as well as require perseverance and are related to the task (Denler et al., 2009). It is
recommended to encourage setting specific goals (Dembo & Eaton, 2000) that are measurable
and based on performance (Clark & Estes, 2008). Set close, concrete and challenging goals that
allow the learner to experience success, making it clear that individuals are capable of learning
what is being taught or are capable of performing a task (Pajares, 2006). Successful goal setting
and goal attainment for financial education programing for female clients can serve as positive
motivation for the financial advisor to continue the practice.
Utilize experts in field delivery of financial education to train advisors for
confidence and competence. Self-efficacy relates to an individual’s judgement of their own
capabilities (Rueda, 2011). Financial advisors need to believe that they can effectively teach
financial education to female clients and encourage their ongoing financial education. Clark and
Estes (2008) remind us that belief is almost everything. As such, the underlying principles state
that high self-efficacy can positively influence motivation, where feedback and modeling
increase self-efficacy (Pajares, 2006). It is recommended to provide training to facilitate
confidence and competence in the execution of delivery skills, with feedback from qualified
observers who have expertise in presentation skills and are subject matter experts in financial
content.
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For a financial advisor to be committed to financial education requires confidence and
belief in one’s abilities, where the financial advisors’ motivation influences the effective delivery
of financial education for women. The principles of motivational dynamics include adaptive self-
efficacy and competence beliefs (Pintrich, 2003). A design principle for motivation includes
providing clear and accurate feedback to learners regarding skills and competence, creating
meaningful solutions that are context specific and based on existing expertise (Rueda, 2011).
This can include identifying specific behavioral objectives for learning (Daly, 2009) and
providing performance feedback during learning (Mayer, 2011), with immediate feedback and
reinforcement (Tuckman, 2009). As self-efficacy beliefs are the self-perceptions that individuals
hold about their capabilities (Pajares, 2006), when people expect to do well, they tend to try hard,
persist, and perform better (Pintrich, 2003). It is important to point out how the learning and
training will be useful in people’s lives (Pintrich, 2003), which appeals to the financial advisors’
important motivation and commitment to being of service. Individuals with higher self-efficacy
are more motivated as they have greater belief in their own competence, higher expectations for
positive outcomes, and are more motivated to engage in, persist at, and work hard at a task
(Rueda, 2011).
Organization Recommendations
Introduction. Table 7 includes all organizational influences that are assumed to impact
financial advisors’ ability to provide financial education to women. The organizational influences
assessed specifically address the presence and implementation of a gender inclusive culture in
the area of financial education for women, evidenced through cultural models and cultural
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settings. Cultural models are shared mental schema or normative understandings of how the
world works, or ought to work, and are shared ways of perceiving and thinking, where cultural
settings are those occasions where people come together to carry out joint activities that
accomplish something that they value (Gallimore & Goldenberg, 2001). Additionally, Table 7
presents the organizational influences, principles and citations, and context specific
recommendations, with regard to the stakeholder’s ability to accomplish their goals.
Data gathered during semi-structured interviews with financial advisors, interviews with
organizational executive leadership, and document collection and analysis validated the
organizational influences of cultural models and cultural settings on the financial advisors’
engagement in financial education specifically tailored to the needs of women. Both
organizational influences were validated through the data collection process and were both
considered to be priorities. Organizational influences can be understood through a cultural profile
of the organization, which includes analysis of cultural models and cultural settings (Clark &
Estes, 2008), which are dynamic and interactive, not static and mechanistic (Rueda, 2011).
Organizational culture filters and affects successful performance improvement (Clark & Estes,
2008). This study explored the influences of organizational culture on the goal of financial
advisors to provide gender responsive financial education for women.
Table 7
Summary of Organizational Influences and Recommendations
Organizational
Influence
Principle and Citation Context-Specific
Recommendation
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Recognition of
gender diversity in
financial decision-
making (Cultural
Model).

Effective organizations insure
that organizational messages,
rewards, policies and procedures
that govern the work of the
organization are aligned with or
are supportive of organizational
goals and values (Clark and
Estes, 2008). Effective change
efforts are communicated
regularly and frequently to all
key stakeholders (Clark and
Estes, 2008).
The financial advisors’
organization demonstrates their
recognition of the importance of
gender diversity in financial advice
by recruiting to the women’s
market for advisors and clients,
while providing support through
company initiatives.

Organizational
marketing to women
with support
resources for
financial advisors.
(Cultural Setting)
Effective change begins by
addressing motivation
influencers; it ensures the group
knows why it needs to change. It
then addresses organizational
barriers and then knowledge and
skill needs (Clark and Estes,
2008).
Effective change efforts ensure
that everyone has the resources
(equipment, personnel, time, etc.)
needed to do their job, and that if
there are resource shortages, then
resources are aligned with
organizational priorities (Clark
and Estes, 2008).

The financial advisors’
organization provides marketing
resources to financial advisors to
promote financial education to
women, while delivering follow up
support by providing financial
education resources and
professional development.

Demonstrate organizational support for gender diversity by recruiting women as
advisors and clients. Cultural models are dynamic traits expressed through cultural practices in
specific contexts, helping to shape the way that an organization is structured to include values,
practices, and policies (Rueda, 2011). A financial services organization that recognizes gender
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diversity in financial decision-making, is influenced by their organization’s cultural model.
According to Clark and Estes (2008), effective organizations insure that organizational messages,
rewards, policies and procedures that govern the work of the organization are aligned with or are
supportive of organizational goals and values. A recommended strategy for financial services
organizations is to demonstrate their recognition of the importance of gender diversity in
financial advice by recruiting to the women’s market for advisors and clients, while providing
support through company initiatives. Company initiatives provide visibility for change efforts so
that they are known both internally and externally, providing opportunities for participation and
accountability for delivery. Effective change efforts are communicated regularly and frequently
to all key stakeholders (Clark and Estes, 2008). The application of these principles has relevance
for the financial advisor as they seek to provide financial education to women in the context of
improving their financial literacy.
Financial planning for women needs to be a part of the organization’s cultural model
where the organization markets to women, providing timely and pertinent gender specific
curriculum and advice, with high-value materials, tailored to the needs of women. A gender
inclusive initiative could be a change for the organization, where Shein (2017) acknowledged
that culture-change programs work only if they are consistent with the organization’s cultural
DNA, where DNA includes beliefs, values, and behaviors. Effective leaders demonstrate a
commitment to valuing diversity through inclusive action. They promote an organizational
culture that promotes equity and inclusion and cultivate an atmosphere where diversity is viewed
as an asset to the organization and its stakeholders (Angeline, 2011; Prieto, Phipps, & Osiri,
2009). The influence of a cultural model in service to the financial needs of women is a focused
business influence. Recruiting women to the financial advisor career strengthens an
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105
organization’s ability to attract female clients, noting that two-thirds of consumer wealth will be
controlled by women by 2020 (GAMA, General Agents and Managers Association, Foundation
for Educational and Research, 2015). Women typically face financial challenges, earning less
than men with more career interruptions, and are primarily responsible for family finances (Chen
& V olpe, 2002), thus benefiting from tailored advice. Where women have tremendous financial
decision-making responsibilities, low financial literacy levels for women adversely impacts their
financial decision-making ability (Prast & van Soest, 2016). Recognition of the need for gender
diverse financial planning needs to be part of the organizational cultural model, influencing
initiatives to attract female clients and advisors.
Demonstrate organizational support by providing marketing and professional
development resources to advisors for financial education for women. Cultural settings are
interactive where a setting can be shaped by an individual, and conversely, a setting can shape an
individual’s behavior (Rueda, 2011). The cultural setting influences the organization to market to
women, with support resources for financial advisors. This level of support for financial advisors
who are motivated to provide financial education for their female clients is helpful for skill
development in the context of delivering financial education to impact improved financial
decision-making skills. Providing access to financial education is an institutional responsibility,
reinforcing organizational goals (Cohen & Nelson, 2011). According to Clark and Estes (2008),
effective change begins by addressing motivation influencers; it ensures the group knows why it
needs to change. It then addresses organizational barriers and then knowledge and skills need.
Additionally, effective change efforts ensure that everyone has the resources (equipment,
personnel, time, etc.) needed to do their job, and that if there are resource shortages, then
resources are aligned with organizational priorities. Recommended strategies include that the
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organization provide marketing resources to financial advisors to promote financial education to
women, while delivering follow up support by providing financial education resources and
professional development.
Financial advisors who deliver financial education to female clients typically have a set
vision, goals, and direction for their educational initiative. This practice does require additional
resources, as it is outside of the usual and customary business modeling for most financial
advisors. Additional resources needed can include knowledge, training, practice, materials,
business infrastructure, supplies, time, and staff. Adequate resources are critical, as organization
and stakeholder goals are often not achieved due to lack of resources, where even if there is
exceptional motivation and knowledge, processes and materials that are inadequate can prevent
the achievement of performance goals (Clark & Estes, 2008). Additional marketing and support
for educational activities can go far in developing skills to effectively deliver content,
complimented by professional development to maintain and continue the practice of educating
female clients. When organizational resources are aligned with goals which are established
through stakeholder collaboration, performance increases (Clark & Estes, 2008). Follow up
support from the organization can take the form of training with feedback on performance, where
Clark and Estes (2008) note that communication and feedback play an important role in
organizational performance. Importantly, financial education has a positive influence on financial
capacity and wealth and removes barriers to being financially informed (Lusardi & Mitchell,
2007a). Organizations are better positioned to serve the needs of their advisors when influenced
by a cultural setting that supports financial advisor activities to educate female clients.

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Integrated Implementation and Evaluation Plan
Implementation and Evaluation Framework
The implementation and evaluation framework, informed by the New World Kirkpatrick
Model, consists of the same four levels as the traditional Kirkpatrick model, but in reverse order
(Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016a). The New World starts with level four, which is the
evaluation of results. When evaluation of a program’s effectiveness only comes into play after a
program is designed, developed, and delivered, it nearly guarantees that there will be little or no
value to report (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016b). When the end result of the program is in
clear site, from the beginning of a program implementation, it can more rapidly reveal if a
program is not working, thus providing an opportunity to make adjustments early in the process.
The third level is behavior, which becomes the second level to evaluate, as application of the
training is prerequisite to results. The second traditional level becomes the third evaluation level,
which is the actual learning. The learning level includes knowledge, skills, attitude, confidence,
and commitment. The first traditional level is the last level in the New World Model, which is the
reaction of the participants in regard to if they found the training engaging, favorable, or relevant
to their jobs. Evaluation is absolutely essential when trying to close performance gaps or
improve programs, as without systematic evaluation, impressions of programs could be wrong,
dangerous, self-serving, or wishful thinking (Clark & Estes, 2018).
Organizational Purpose, Need and Expectations
The stakeholder of focus are financial advisors serving women, who have established
face-to-face relationships with their clients, and who provide their female clients with financial
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education. Financially educated clients are better equipped to make informed choices than clients
who are financial uninformed. The problem is that women make the majority of financial
decisions in households but test as less financially literate than men (Prast & van Soest, 2016).
The financial advisors in this study provide financial education to their clients as part of their
organizational structure. It is important to have gender appropriate financial education to help
improve learning and financial literacy for women (Lusardi & Mitchell, 2011b). The goal is to
provide financial education to female clients and have recurring participation in financial
education either through subsequent coursework or implementation of a personalized financial
plan. Lusardi and Mitchell (2007b) emphasized the importance of formal financial advice in
economic decision-making, and a focus on appropriate decisions that reflect individualized
economic behaviors, as financial decisions and choices optimally reflect the individual’s special
circumstances. This study explored the nature of these programs.
The expectations for the desired outcomes or results of the recommendations are several.
The evaluation of outcomes involves internal and external leading indicators, which are short-
term observations and measurements that suggest critical behaviors are on track for positive
results (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016a). For the stakeholder of focus, offering financial
education for clients is their practice. Of excellent value for the client, it enhances their capacity
to be better engaged in their own financial planning, which serves as an external leading
indicator. For the financial advisor, as well as the organization, a focus on the needs of women,
can create new and recurring revenue, deepen client relationships, improve client retention,
expand the competencies of the financial advisor, and attract added team members interested in
serving the female demographic, thus providing added human capital necessary for operational
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growth and capacity. Whether it be the advisor or the organization, these internal leading
indicators can contribute to the financial service provider’s capacity for short term and long-term
growth.
Level 4: Results and Leading Indicators
Table 8 presents the leading indicators to be used in evaluating if the stakeholder’s goals
are being met. Leading indicators are powerful tools as they provide important data connecting
training to performance and to results (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016a). The desired outcomes
are both internal and external, where the external includes the client and the public, with the
internal relating to the impact on the financial advisor and the financial organization.
Table 8
Outcomes, Metrics, and Methods for External and Internal Outcomes
Outcome Metric(s) Method(s)
External Outcomes
Increased public
awareness of financial
educational services
tailored to women, with
credit to the financial
provider.
Number of clients indicating
awareness of specific company
provided resources.
Survey of clients.
Increased financial self-
confidence for
participants.
Number of self-reporting
program participants indicating
confidence at the beginning and
at the conclusion of the
educational program.
Survey of participants using a
pre- and post-survey.
Increase in new
prospective clients result
from public perception of
Number of prospects and clients
indicating how they selected the
firm.
Survey of new prospects and
new clients.
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110
the organization as an
advocate for women’s
financial literacy.
Internal Outcomes
Increased number of
advisors trained and
competent in their ability
to deliver financial
education workshops to
women.
Number of training programs
that are offered by the
organization and the number of
advisors that participate.
Organizations self-report
tracking of providing training to
advisors in how to deliver
financial education that is
gender appropriate.
Increase in numbers of
financial advisors utilizing
available financial
education resources for
their female clients.
Numbers of advisors who opt to
utilize resources for financial
education are tracked.
Organizations self-report
tracking of financial education
resources made available to
financial advisors.
Increased number of
financial advisors
providing financial
education.
The number of financial
education programs for women
are tracked.
The organization surveys
advisors as to how conducive is
the cultural setting for providing
financial education to women.
Increased number of
participants in financial
education.
The number of class attendees is
tracked.
Financial advisors track their
marketing campaign results for
their financial education
programs.
Increased participation in
financial planning.
The number of financial plans
delivered to clients is tracked.
Financial advisors track number
of offers for personalized
financial planning, tailored to
the specific needs of the
individual.
Increase in number of
exposures for female
clients to identified skills
for financial decision-
making.
The number of times identified
learning objectives are included
in educational content is tracked.
Organizations track specific
learning objectives for female
clients that are identified to
improve their financial literacy
and resulting financial decision-
making capacity.
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Increase in revenue for the
financial provider from
participants in financial
education.
Tracking of revenue generating
activities to include advisory
fees, commissions, trails, and
any other related organizational
incentives from participants.
Financial provider tracks initial
and ongoing revenue from
clients engaged as participants
and as learners.
Increased recruiting of
women and millennials
who are interested in
serving the demographic
of women
Tracking of interviews,
applications, and appointments,
of candidates whose target
markets include women.
Organizational tracking of
recruitment efforts to serve the
female demographic.

Level 3: Behavior
Critical behaviors. Level 3 Behavior is the degree to which participants apply what they
have learned during training and is the most important level to evaluate. As training alone will
not produce enough results, a critical step is to identify a few critical behaviors that are specific,
observable, and measurable. Critical behaviors most influence Level 4 Results and are the path
from learning to desired outcomes (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016a).
The stakeholder of focus are financial advisors who utilize financial education for their
female clients. Table 9 summarizes the three critical behaviors, their metrics, methods, and
timing for evaluation. The first critical behavior is that financial advisors must be active, and
successful, in their pursuit of the knowledge and skills to be able to effectively deliver financial
education. On an ongoing basis, advisors need to stay knowledgeable in financial topics and
skillful in their ability to convey this knowledge to others. The second critical behavior is that
classes are offered and attended. This requires practice management capability with depth of
resources to add financial education as an element of service. In addition to offering the classes,
they must have the marketing protocols in place to generate the attendees. The last critical
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behavior is that financial advisors have in place the next steps for subsequent education, and
generate participation, to include follow up courses or the opportunity and access for
personalized financial planning.
Table 9
Critical Behaviors, Metrics, Methods, and Timing for Evaluation
Critical Behavior Metric(s) Method(s) Timing
1. Financial advisors
study and obtain
knowledge and skills
needed to deliver
financial education.
The number of
professional
development courses
completed.
Participation and
completion of courses to
learn content and
delivery skills is
documented.
Before, and while,
the financial advisor
offers financial
education classes.
2. Classes are
attended by women.
The number of class
attendees that are
women.
Class attendance is
tracked and analyzed
with regard to number
of attendees, number of
women, and source of
marketing that they
responded to.
Ongoing and in
conjunction with
each class offered.
3. The majority of
participants continue
their financial
education.
The number of
women who continue
their financial
education.
Attendees are tracked as
to if they become a
client and to what extent
they continue their
financial education,
whether it be through
subsequent class
participation or
personalized financial
planning.
After initial course
has concluded.

Required drivers. Financial advisors require knowledge, skills, motivation, and
organizational practice management in order to provide financial education to female clients. The
required drivers in Table 9 support the three critical behaviors in Table 10. Reinforcement
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methods apply to all three critical behaviors, as do methods for encouragement. Rewarding the
successes for financial advisor efforts and engagement for themselves and their participants helps
to reinforce all critical behaviors. Lastly, monitoring of financial education programs for their
success in perpetuating revenue and clients contributes to the measurement of a program’s
success and ability to endure.
Table 10
Required Drivers to Support Critical Behaviors
Method(s) Timing
Critical Behaviors Supported
1, 2, 3
Reinforcing
Financial advisors offer financial
education on a regular schedule.
ongoing 1, 2, 3
The next steps of personalized
financial planning and subsequent
education are visible offerings.
ongoing 1, 2, 3
Financial advisors publish their
schedule of financial education
opportunities on a regular basis.
Before class dates and
ongoing
1, 2, 3
Financial advisors have gender
appropriate and appealing
educational tools to use.
Before class dates and
ongoing
1, 2, 3
Financial advisors extend personal
invitations to participate in financial
education to female clients, referrals,
and prospects.
Before class dates and
ongoing
1, 2, 3
Encouraging
Financial advisors receive feedback
and coaching from peers for
Ongoing 1
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effectiveness of delivery and
encouragement.
Financial advisors collaborate and
mentor with other advisors who have
experience in delivering financial
education.
Ongoing 1
Rewarding
Recognition for financial advisors
based on number of clients engaged
and participating in financial
education.
Ongoing 2, 3
Recognition for financial advisors is
based on their participation in their
own professional development
Ongoing 1,
Monitoring
Financial advisors monitor revenue
generation from educational
participants.
Ongoing 2, 3
Financial advisors track the number
of new clients obtained through
educational activities.
Ongoing 2, 3

Organizational support is advantageous for advisors and the organization.
Organizational support is tremendously helpful for financial advisors to successfully facilitate
financial education for women, where organizations benefit from advisors’ success as well. The
critical behaviors and the required drivers to support those behaviors are areas where
organizational resources can optimize educational initiatives. Organizations are well positioned
to provide resources for financial advisors. These include seminar materials, power points,
marketing materials, training, and practice management development. Furthermore, funding for
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activities involving participation in a women’s initiative, or special incentive compensation, are
additional options. Recognition, support, or funding for advisors who participate in professional
development can encourage advisors to further their education, and hence improve their potential
for increased effectiveness, where advisors’ success results in revenue for the organization.
Organizational resources help to provide support and access for advisors to facilitate financial
education programing for women, supporting their critical behaviors.
Level 2: Learning
Learning goals. Upon completion of the recommended solutions, the financial advisors
will be able to:
1. Select and include in education content financial skills that are critical to the financial
decision-making needs of women. (Declarative Factual)
2. Demonstrate delivery and educational skills that encourage the client to apply general
concepts from class to specific financial decisions. (Procedural)
3. Build effective presentation skills through observation, practice, and peer feedback.
(Metacognitive)
4. Demonstrate self-confidence that the course content they provide is important, relevant, and
applicable to the attendees in their financial lives. (Confidence)
5. Demonstrate practice management expertise to attract attendees for classes. (Procedural)
6. Monitor effectiveness of the educational programs by tracking key performance indicators of
increased number of clients and increased revenue. (Procedural)
7. Show self-efficacy that the educational programs have positive impact and lead to women
continuing their engagement in financial education. (Commitment)
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8. Recognize that financial education leads to increased financial skills by pre- and post-
assessment of program participants. (Value)
9. Explain the critical role that financial education has in practice management and client
engagement. (Attitude)
Program. The learning goals listed will be achieved through targeted training for
financial advisors. The training will have flexible delivery modality to accommodate the needs of
the sponsoring organization and the financial advisors in attendance. The training objectives will
be strategic and tactical. The importance of financial education for women and the case for
increasing financial literacy will be foundational. Financial education curriculum will be
provided and reviewed for content relevancy and gender specific applications. Presentation skills
will be developed, modeled, and practiced with peer review. Practice management procedures for
integrating these educational offerings into the organization’s schedule will be covered to include
logistics and the planning process before, during, and after the events. Marketing support
materials will be provided, as well as training in how to generate attendance. Next steps for
attendees will be covered to include facilitation of personalized planning and subsequent classes
that are at a higher level than the initial course. Conversion of course participants to clients will
be addressed, so as to provide support for their continuing engagement in financial education. As
an optimal best practice, all levels of organizational support will be available for advisors at all
stages of delivery to maximize the expediency of program implementation and effectiveness.
Evaluation of the components of learning. To apply what is learned by the financial
advisor to solve the problem of financial knowledge for women, the advisor must have the
knowledge, skills, and motivation to achieve their performance goals for financial education
programming. Table 11 lists the evaluation methods and timing for the specific learning
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components of declarative knowledge, procedural skills, attitude, confidence, and commitment.
The evaluation methods cover the advisor training provided in the program previously described,
as well as the application during the courses offered by the financial advisors to female course
participants.
Table 11
Evaluation of the Components of Learning for the Program\
Methods or Activities Timing
Declarative Knowledge “I know it.”
Knowledge checks on applicability of content
using collaboration with peers.
Before and after course delivery, review
curriculum for appropriateness of included
content.
Break out groups, during classes, to determine
key concepts to include when covering topics.
Before and after course delivery, review and
update for effectiveness of topic delivery.
Procedural Skills “I can do it right now.”
Checklist or rubric for observation by peers of
delivery and educational skills that encourages
participant application of course content.
During mock course or real course presentation.
Story telling of scenarios where financial
knowledge is applied and demonstrated as a real
solution to a real problem.
Delivered during the course and monitored after
the course for effectiveness to illustrate the
concept.
Attitude “I believe this is worthwhile.”
Discussions about the benefits of financial
knowledge and skills with course participants.
During the course
Observations of participants’ pre- and post-skill
levels, stories of success, and self-efficacy.
At the end of the course
Sharing success stories with peers. Before, during, and after training
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Confidence “I think I can do it on the job.”
Surveys from course participants to validate
ability of financial advisor to conduct effective
courses.
At the end of class
Peer check-ins, mentors, and coaching. Before and after training
Small group discussions during training about
concerns and solutions.
During training events
Commitment “I will do it on the job.”
Create an individual action plan for how to
deliver a financial education program.
Before the courses
Create a schedule of financial education courses
to be offered.
Before the courses
Extended personal invitations to clients,
referrals, and the public to attend.
Before the courses

Level 1: Reaction
Level 1 Reaction is the degree to which participants find training favorable, engaging,
and relevant to their jobs (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016a). Formative and summative methods
are the means used to evaluate the quality of training programs provided by financial
organizations for financial advisors to facilitate financial education for women. Table 12
identifies components to measure reactions to the training programs to include methods, tools,
and timing. Methods that are formative are used during the program and methods that are
summative follow the program, where both are used to evaluate the quality of the program and
instructor.

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Table 12
Components to Measure Reactions to the Program
Method(s) or Tool(s) Timing
Engagement
Program attendance During the training
Observation by facilitator During the training
Participant reports planning to use the course
content
During and after training
Program evaluations Immediately following training
Relevance
Program topic and content evaluation Immediately following the training
Survey regarding application of the program’s
content
Thirty days after training
Customer Satisfaction
Program evaluation Immediately after the training
Pulse check with participants via discussions
and individual interviews
During and after the training

Evaluation Tools
Immediately following the program implementation. Upon conclusion of the
organizational training, the participants will complete a survey where they will self-report their
learning and their reactions to the training. Organizational programming is effectively supported
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when evaluated for the ability of the training class to help stakeholders accomplish their goals. It
is important for the organization to know if the training they are providing to financial advisors
promotes their ability to deliver financial education to women. The Kirkpatrick Model concerns
itself solely with results and outcomes, where the outcome of learning resides with the learner
(Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016a). Regardless of the type of training the organization provides,
immediate evaluation of Level 1 and Level 2 will provide data evidencing the participant’s
reaction and learning upon completion of the training. The survey will be administered at the
conclusion of the training, before participants disengage from the training setting. It will
investigate participant engagement in the course, perception of course relevance, and level of
satisfaction with the training. Further, it will gather data regarding participant knowledge,
procedural skills, attitude, confidence, and commitment. In addition to the survey, the instructor
will administer brief pulse checks by asking the participants for their reaction to the relevance of
the training content. The survey is found in Appendix D.
Delayed for a period after the program implementation. After the organizational
training has been completed, participants will be asked to complete another survey. The survey
will be timed for 30 days after the conclusion of the class. The delayed evaluation will collect
data and useful information for further understanding of Level 3 behavior and Level 4 results,
which are important in the Kirkpatrick Model. This approach is a Blended Evaluation where all
four levels of the Kirkpatrick framework are considered, not evaluated one at a time, not kept
separate, and powerfully considered in one evaluation methodology (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick,
2016a). Through the delayed survey, Level 1 and Level 2 are further reviewed beyond the
immediate completion of the training. The timing of the delayed data gathering provides Level 3
and Level 4 assessment. Level 3 behavior is reflected in the application of the training in
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financial advising practices and if financial education is being delivered. Level 4 results are
reflected by the impact of the application of training content which results in tangible access to,
and participation in, financial education for women. As with the immediately administered
survey, the tool relies on the financial advisor to self-report. The survey is found in Appendix E.
Data Analysis and Reporting
Data analysis and data reporting are meaningful for organizational evaluation of training,
as well as for evaluation by financial advisor attendees. Training programs provided by financial
organizations are designed to facilitate advisor delivery of financial education. The gathering of
results-based data regarding effective execution extends beyond the immediate and delayed
evaluations administered following the implementation of the training programs. Such reporting
needs to be an ongoing activity, as organizations and financial advisors need to know if
attendance in these training programs results in the actual delivery of educational programming.
Useful data to report addresses if the financial advisor attendees include in their business
planning financial education sessions, if they conduct the sessions, and what are the results of the
sessions. The Data Dashboard in Appendix F gathers this data on an individual financial advisor
basis. The Data Dashboard serves as a useful tool for the advisor to set their goals for financial
education delivery and to track their goal attainment. Financial practitioners typically set annual
goals and monitor them monthly. The Data Dashboard is set up on a calendar year track. There
are five categories of goals which lead up to the three ultimate goals of subsequent learner
engagement in financial education, or client acquisition, of which subsequent learner
engagement is a subset. New female clients are a subset of total new clients, and important to
identify for the goal of focus on financial literacy for women. Of note is that the term “sessions”
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on the dashboard can refer to classes, courses, workshops, or seminars. The dashboard also
provides for financial education that is provided individually and not in a group setting.
Summary
The New World Kirkpatrick Model provides the framework for the implementation and
evaluation plan for this study, where the organizational goal is to provide support for financial
advisors in offering financial education to women. Evaluation of program effectiveness begins
with Level 4 Results, which is foundational to the New World Model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick,
2016a). The Financial Advisor is the primary stakeholder group of focus, where the four levels of
training and evaluation are used to ensure that the financial advisor has the knowledge,
motivation, and organizational support to deliver financial education in their practice. The
financial advisor is the conduit between the other two stakeholder groups. Advisors have access
to both the resources for financial education from the organizational stakeholder, and access to
the relationships with the individual learners who are the other stakeholder group. In the world of
financial services, Level 4 Results are a customary area of focus, as results are critically
important and central for decision-making. Importantly, Level 4 results are meaningful to all
three stakeholder groups for this study.
The ultimate beneficiary of financial education programming is the stakeholder group
who are women learners looking to be better educated on personal financial planning topics.
Access to financial advisor provided financial education can help build financial planning
resources, an opportunity for attendees to get to know the financial advisor presenting the
session, and to be a prospective client. Becoming a client helps to facilitate their Level 4 results,
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as once engaged as a client, attaining results and outcomes which meet expectations are of
primary focus. Level 3 performance of critical behaviors precedes results and reflects the
application of learning from Level 2, positively impacting financial knowledge, skills, attitude,
confidence, and commitment. This complements Level 1 with meaningful reaction to
engagement, relevance and satisfaction as a client.
Data-based decisions help organizations make good choices and to take appropriate
actions in regard to the training of financial advisors to effectively deliver financial education.
Helpful in determining which data are most useful, the three key data analysis questions are if
the training and development program meets expectations, if not why not, and if so why. By
starting with defining end results, current data can be compared to expectations, successes
leveraged quickly, and problems addressed and corrected early (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick,
2016a). End results include the actual delivery of financial education, and participant
engagement. Engagement is defined as subsequent participation in financial education by the
attendee, where becoming a client is an available, but not the only, measure. If a participant
becomes a client, it serves as a measurable Level 4 result, illustrating prerequisite success at
Levels 1, 2, and 3. Hence, obtaining new clients from financial education sessions, is an
appropriate, useful, and measurable goal. Clients are a bottom-line value to financial
organizations and clients serve as a compelling reason to encourage advisors to offer financial
education, should the evidence support it.
The stakeholder of focus is the financial advisor who offers the financial education to
women, with the goal of the learner’s subsequent engagement. As with the organizational
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stakeholder, the financial advisor shares the same concerns for data-based decisions. When
evaluating programs, to start with desired results is the first of Kirkpatrick’s Foundational
Principles. Importantly, all five of Kirkpatrick’s Foundational Principles guide the relationship
with the advisor and the organization, facilitating the advisors’ relationship with the learner.
Financial education is centered on the leaner, where the needs of the learner guide the program
and the desired results. The partnership of all three stakeholder groups is necessary to bring
about a positive return on expectation (ROE) where the learner’s improved financial literacy is
the expectation and the ultimate indicator of the value of the program. The five foundational
principles of (a) The End Is the Beginning, (b) ROE Is the Ultimate Indicator of Value, (c)
Business Partnership Is Necessary to Bring About Positive ROE, (d) Value Must Be Created
Before It Can be Demonstrated, and (e) A Compelling Chain of Evidence Demonstrates Your
Bottom-Line Value together lead to enhanced ROE and are key to evaluation in the Kirkpatrick
Model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016a). The five principles, coupled with Kirkpatrick’s four
levels of evaluation, serve as optimal tools to evaluate the effectiveness of the implementation of
the organizational training program for financial advisors.
Strengths and Weaknesses of the Approach
Using the Clark and Estes’ (2008) framework was the appropriate approach to address the
problem of practice of financial advisors delivering financial education to women. The targeted
approach of gap analysis provided a workable reference point for the study. Research showed
that women are less financially literate than men, where women need financial knowledge to
make informed financial choices. This directed the research to gap analysis which addressed the
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influence of knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences on financial advisors’ ability
to provide financial education to women, providing a solutions-based approach.
The qualitative nature of the data collection was appropriate for this research. The
interviewees were defined as FASW, where, by definition, these financial professionals and the
financial services organizations that they represented, served as exemplars for financial
education for women. The data gathering revealed the knowledge, motivation, and organizational
influences found in practice to be necessary for delivery of financial education to women, for
financial advisors to successful execute, for financial companies to deliver support to the field,
and for clients to consume. The method targeted to understand what it looks like when it works,
as all FASW had created clear visibility for the topic, access for women to financial education,
delivery of financial education to women, and continual and personalized follow through for
women to execute on behalf of their personal needs.
The New World Kirkpatrick Model (Kirkpatrick & Kirkpatrick, 2016a) was a strength for
the research. The model’s initial focus is with the outcome in mind, which is in sync with the
needs of financial professionals. A focus on planned results for financial services companies
means selling their solutions. When solutions are implemented, clients get closer to attaining
their Level 4 results. The study was a focus on financial advisors, who benefit from all four
levels where Level 4 addressed results, Level 3 concentrated on behavior of the learner, Level 2
looked at the knowledge, and Level 1 focused on the reaction to the program. Application results
benefit from the use of evaluation tools found in Appendix D, E, and F, impacting the behavior
of the financial advisor to be able to include financial education for women, in their practice
model.

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Future Research
The first recommendation is for gender-centric research on financial education and
financial literacy to be a priority for financial services organizations that have distribution
through financial advisors. As these companies are solution providers, they are well positioned to
test study findings for results with their field of advisors. An ongoing initiative for women’s
financial education can provide opportunities to establish key performance indicators, implement
and test theories and findings, and evaluate results. Researching in partnership with advisors in
the field can provide the opportunity for rich results, prompt turn-around on execution with
clients, opportunities for rapid recalibration, and results-based data.
The second recommendation calls for working with other entities who also conduct
research on the topics of financial education and financial literacy for women. Examples of such
entities include The Federal Reserve, The National Endowment for Financial Education, and The
United Way. Collaborating within the financial services community to assist with data gathering,
data aggregation, application and distribution of available resources, can accelerate results.
Financial advisors can test and relay data back to the study, creating scale and speed, as they
have direct access to consumers.
The third and last recommendation is to target a broad audience of women. Financial
education that reaches across generations including financial education for elementary school
students, high school students, college students, millennials, baby boomers, and the traditional
generation, could produce results of interest for financial literacy studies. Research extending
beyond domestic audiences to include global communities, where financial education for women
may evidence different features and characteristics, may yield informative data. Additional
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research is recommended to include future needs of women for different types of delivery
modalities, timing, and delivery entity.
Conclusion
The organizational problem was the effective delivery of financial education to women
by financial advisors. Financial education had been found to positively impact financial literacy,
and women had been found to test less financially literate than men. The capability to make
informed financial choices was a pressing need for women as they faced tremendous financial
responsibilities.
The three stakeholder groups included financial services companies, financial advisors,
and women clients. Financial advisors were selected as the stakeholders of focus. Financial
advisors are positioned to be a conduit between the other two stakeholder groups. Financial
advisors are well situated to work with the support for financial education provided by their
organizations and to implement that support for the benefit of the female learners to improve
their financial knowledge and impact their financial literacy.
The research questions that guided the study were framed by the knowledge, motivation,
and organizational influences needed by financial advisors to deliver financial education to
women. A gap analysis methodology focused on what influences presented for the financial
advisor with a successful practice model of providing financial education to women. The role of
organization influences on the financial advisor knowledge and motivation contributed to the gap
analysis.
The research consisted of interviews with financial advisors found to be successful in
providing financial education to women. They were assembled as FASW, Financial Advisors
Serving Women (a fictitious group). Additional interviews were conducted with select executive
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leaders from financial services companies also successful in providing financial education to
women. Document analysis examined the digital presence of the interviewees. The results of data
gathered answered the research questions.
The results of data gathered showed areas of influence on the knowledge and motivation
of financial advisors to provide financial planning for women. Knowledge of longevity related
topics, such as long-term care, income generation, asset preservation, estate planning,
widowhood, caring for others, and multigenerational planning were examples of knowledge
needed for financial advisors serving the women’s market. Other examples of knowledge
influences included skills in personalizing planning, providing real-life applications, relationship
building, and holistic planning. Additionally, the logistics of educational delivery to include
communication skills, relationship building, marketing skills, and individual and group
presentation skills, were important for advisors. Knowledge of practice management skills,
which included how to plan for, implement, and maintain a campaign for financial education for
women, influenced success for financial advisors. Knowledge areas necessary to serve the
women’s market, carried over to better serving men as well and contributed to overall skills for
financial advisors.
Results also indicated the important role and influence of the organization on financial
advisor knowledge and motivation. Although the FASW took responsibility for their own
knowledge and motivation, some tools and support were also provided by their organizations.
Based on research and studies of consumers and the differences in decision-making behavior of
women, organizations often provided financial advisors with programing, materials, training, and
support. Research capability and direct involvement varied by organization, but all had research-
based initiatives to promote financial education for women. Cultural models and settings were
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supported by the organizations’ long-term commitments to women’s initiatives. Organizational
support of the financial advisors’ knowledge and motivation was grounded in the belief that
qualified advisors provided tremendous value to clients. With commitment to the client-planner
relationship, organizational intent was not to provide financial education for women and turn
them into do-it-yourself financial consumers, as professional level relationships were considered
necessary to fill the gap of women’s financial education and literacy.
The financial services community is well equipped to positively impact financial literacy
for women. Importantly, financial services companies have in place professional financial
advisors, already working in this capacity. Organizational support for financial education skill
building is important for success of existing advisors, as well as to recruit new advisors, to serve
the women’s market. An organizational best practice is to provide financial advisors with tools
that are applicable to their practice for providing financial education to women. Utilizing results-
based evaluation of programs for advisors, training programs include support for intellectual
excellence in knowledge needed to serve the women’s market, delivery skills, marketing skills,
and practice management support. The financial services community of professional financial
advisors and their organizations are positioned to accomplish the desired result of women
consumers engaged in financial education, positively impacting their financial literacy, and
improving decision-making capacity, with the guidance of qualified financial advisors.

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APPENDIX A
Interview Protocol for Financial Advisor Practitioners
Interview Introduction
I want to thank you for taking time out of your schedule to meet with me and agreeing to
participate in my study by answering some questions. This interview will take about an hour,
although we have allocated an hour and half, in case we need extra time.
I am currently enrolled in a doctoral program at USC and am conducting an evaluation
study on the role of financial education in financial advisors’ practices and the implications on
financial literacy for women. I am not here as an employee of this organization or to make a
professional assessment or judgment of your practice. I would like to emphasize that today I am
here only as a researcher collecting data for my study. The information you share with me will be
placed into my study as part of the data collection. This interview is completely confidential, and
your name will not be disclosed to anyone and will be known only to me specifically for this data
collection. While I may use a direct quote from you in my study, I will not provide your name
specifically and will make the best effort possible to remove any potentially identifying
information. I will gladly provide you with a copy of my final product upon request.
Your participation is entirely voluntary. You may skip any questions you don’t want to
answer, and you may stop this interview at any time. During the interview, I will be using a
recording device to help me capture all of your responses accurately and completely. This
recording will not be shared with anyone outside the scope of this project. If you would like me
to stop recording at any point, I will do so. The recording will be transferred to my password-
protected files on a cloud file storage account and will be deleted from the recording device
immediately upon transfer. I will be using a third party to transcribe the recording and all files
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will be returned to me upon finalization of the transcription. The recording and all other data will
then be destroyed after three years from the date my dissertation defense is approved.
With that, do you have any questions about the study before we get started? If not, please
review and keep the information sheet.
I would like your permission to begin the interview. May I also have your permission to
record this conversation? Thank you.
Interview Questions
1. How many years have you been in practice?
2. Please tell me about your team. How many staff? How many are full time? How many are
licensed?
3. What types of models best describe your business? Full service financial advisor? RIA?
Multi-line? Traditional insurer? Insurance agency? Fraternal organization? Wire-house?
Independent financial advisor?
4. Where would your annual gross revenue fit? Choose a range from: under $250k, between
250k to 500k, between 500k and 1 million, or over 1 million.
5. Help me understand your value-proposition for clients. How would you describe your
approach to client-planner relationships? Do these differ for female clients?
6. About what percentage of your client base are women?
7. Please estimate what percentage of your female clients you would consider to be a primary
financial decision maker. Please note that in the case of couples, both parties may be a
primary decision maker.
8. What motivated you to include a special focus on women’s financial needs in your practice?
9. What motivated you to use financial education in your practice?
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10. Which of the following do you use to provide financial education to your clients?
a. classes, workshops, and/or seminars.
b. personalized information to include individual appointments
c. website
d. newsletters
e. direct correspondence regarding periodic informational updates via email or letters
f. social media
g. other methods
11. Please walk me through the other types of services you provide to clients. Do the services
provided to female clients differ from those provide to men?
12. Please rank on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, how important it is to you to:
a. Have financial education for clients as part of your business model?
b. Have financial education tailored to the financial planning needs of women as part of
your business model?
13. How do you determine what your financial education programming for women consists of?
14. Describe how you approach the differences, if any, in the skills required for delivery of
financial education for women compared to men? How do you acquire the skills and
knowledge to facilitate financial education for women? How do you approach your self-
efficacy in this regard?
15. Please estimate what percentage of your female clients have the following and is it different
than for clients, in general?
a. Attended instruction on personal financial planning topics, whether individually or in a
group setting, with you or your firm.
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b. Attended more than one class on personal financial planning.
c. Have a personalized plan in place.
16. Does your company/broker-dealer/manager/home office /firm provide support for
personalized financial planning?
17. Does your organization have initiatives, policies, or procedures to support you in servicing
the needs of female clients, such as training, skill development, marketing, incentives, or
special resources?
18. Does your company’s outlook change towards you, as an advisor, because you are engaged in
providing your clients with financial education, versus an advisor who is not engaged? In
your company, what percentage of advisors, would you estimate, have financial educational
programming as part of their business model? In your company, what percentage of advisors,
would you estimate, have practices that focus on the needs of female clients?
19. Are there any particular compliance restrictions imposed by your firm that influences your
navigation in the design and delivery of financial education to female clients?
20. As you look to the future, what is your vision for your clients’ active financial educational
engagement by 2020? Does the participation differ for women and men? If so, how? What
will it take to get there?
21. What recommendations do you have for effective organizational practices for financial
advisors, or for financial services companies, in regard to providing financial education to
female clients to positively impact their financial literacy?
22. Is there anything that I didn’t ask you, that I should have?

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Interview Conclusion
Thank you for your participation in this interview. Thank you for sharing your wealth of
experience as a financial advisor who provides support for the financial education needs of your
clients. This will assist me in the completion of my dissertation, as well as contribute to my
understanding of financial education practices and potential impact on financial literacy for
women. Thank you, again, for your participation.

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APPENDIX B
Interview Protocol for Organizational Leadership
Interview Introduction
I want to thank you for taking time out of your schedule to meet with me and agreeing to
participate in my study by answering some questions. This interview will take about an hour,
although we have allocated an hour and fifteen minutes, in case we need extra time.
I am currently enrolled in a doctoral program at USC and am conducting an evaluation
study on the role of financial education in financial advisors’ practices and the implications on
financial literacy for women. I am not here to make a professional assessment or judgment of
your organization. I would like to emphasize that today I am here only as a researcher collecting
data for my study. The information you share with me will be placed into my study as part of the
data collection. This interview is completely confidential, and your name will not be disclosed to
anyone and will be known only to me specifically for this data collection. While I may use a
direct quote from you in my study, I will not provide your name specifically and will make the
best effort possible to remove any potentially identifying information. I will gladly provide you
with a copy of my final product upon request.
Your participation is entirely voluntary. You may skip any questions you don’t want to
answer, and you may stop this interview at any time. During the interview, I will be using a
recording device to help me capture all of your responses accurately and completely. This
recording will not be shared with anyone outside the scope of this project. If you would like me
to stop recording at any point, I will do so. The recording will be transferred to my password-
protected files on a cloud file storage account and will be deleted from the recording device
immediately upon transfer. I will be using a third party to transcribe the recording and all files
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

143
will be returned to me upon finalization of the transcription. The recording and all other data will
then be destroyed after three years from the date my dissertation defense is approved.
With that, do you have any questions about the study before we get started? If not, please
review and keep the information sheet.
I would like your permission to begin the interview. May I also have your permission to
record this conversation? Thank you.
Interview Questions
1. What features and aspects of your company has allowed it to emerge as such a positive role
model in serving the financial needs of women?
2. What motivated your organization to include a special focus on women?
3. Does your organization conduct research that informs your knowledge in regard to the
financial needs of women?
4. Does your organization have initiatives, policies, or procedures for practitioners, who are in
service to the women’s market, to include support in hiring, training, skill development,
marketing, incentives, or special resources?
5. How do you make clients aware of your special value proposition and/or financial education
services? Is there any special support provided from the organization to the financial advisor
in this area?
6. What percentage of advisors, would you estimate, have practices where delivering financial
education is part of their business model? Approximately, what percentage of advisors have
practices that include a focus on the needs of female clients?
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144
7. What recommendations do you have for other organizations in regard to effective
organizational practices in providing financial education to female clients to positively
impact their financial literacy?
8. Is there anything that you would like to add about your women’s initiative?
Interview Conclusion
Thank you for your participation in this interview. Thank you for supporting the financial
advisors who provide support for the financial education needs of your clients. This will assist
me in the completion of my dissertation, as well as contribute to my understanding of financial
education initiatives and the potential impact on financial literacy for women. Thank you, again,
for your participation.

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APPENDIX C
Document and Artifact Analysis Protocol
Artifacts to be collected include website data, job descriptions for the financial advisor
position, public facing recruiting collateral, listing of curriculum for practitioners, description of
training resources for practitioners, description of procedures to support specialized professional
development, internal and external collateral for diversity initiatives which include women,
information regarding special incentives related to the women’s market, evidence of research on
the women’s marketplace, and evidence of collaboration with other entities on women’s
initiatives.
Organizational Initiatives, Marketing, Hiring, Training, and Procedures Prompts
1. On the company website, or other marketing materials, is there evidence of any
organizational initiatives regarding the following?
a. Financial education
b. Financial education for women
c. Financial literacy
d. Financial literacy for women
2. Do job descriptions for hiring financial advisors indicate initiatives to provide services in any
of the following areas?
a. Financial education
b. Financial education for women
c. Financial literacy
d. Financial literacy for women
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3. Does the training program for financial advisors include skill development in any of the
following areas?
a. Financial education
b. Financial education for women
c. Financial literacy
d. Financial literacy for women
e. Client communication skills
f. Communication skills for female clients
g. Gender differences in financial servicing needs
h. Deeper skill development for working with women
i. Public speaking
j. Effective teaching
4. Are there procedures to provide support for practitioners as they provide specialized services
in the following areas?
a. Financial education
b. Financial education for women
c. Financial literacy
d. Financial literacy for women
e. Gender differences in financial servicing needs
f. Practice management for serving the women’s market
5. Are practitioners motivated by their company, through incentives or other means, to acquire
additional skills to better service female clients?
6. Is there evidence of company conducted research in the area of women’s financial needs?
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

147
7. Is there evidence of company initiatives based on research, or in collaboration with other
companies or associations, to better serve the financial needs of women?
8. Is there any evidence that the observed external positioning of the organization differs from
its internal positioning?
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APPENDIX D
Immediate Evaluation for Level 1 and Level 2
Form Title: Immediate Participant Evaluation
Training Course Title: How to Provide Financial Education to Female Clients
Audience: Financial Advisors
Instructions: Thank you for attending today’s training. As we value your feedback, please take a
moment to complete this questionnaire. We appreciate your input and suggestions. Your survey
participation is voluntary, and your feedback is anonymous. Please turn this in before you leave
today.
Evaluation Questions (Level 1)
1. Overall, I feel satisfied with today’s workshop.
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

2. I found the information shared today to be relevant to my role as a financial advisor who
provides financial education.
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

3. It is likely that I will conduct financial education for my female clients.
1 2 3 4 5
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

149
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
4. If future trainings are offered on the topic of how to provide financial education to female
clients, I would attend.
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

5. I found the content to be relevant to the financial planning needs of women.
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

Evaluation Questions (Level 2)
6. The skill building goals for financial advisors that were covered in the training aligned with
my goals for professional growth.
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

7. The client-based goals for financial educational programming that were presented in the
training aligned with my goals for clients.
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

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8. The support materials (such as workbooks, handouts, power points, and worksheets) provided
in the training helped me learn what tools and topics are needed in financial education.
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

9. I found the depth of the content covered to be:
Too Simplistic Just Right Too Complex

10. Which of the following is not true of financial education for women?
a. Classes can only be taught by female financial advisors.
b. Classes can be taught collaboratively by more than one instructor.
c. Organizational support is helpful and can include providing guest speakers, training,
workbooks, presentation materials, and marketing support.
d. Client engagement in financial education can take the form of attending group events
(such as seminars, workshops, courses, or classes) as well as participating in
individualized instruction.

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APPENDIX E
Delayed Evaluation for Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4
Form Title: Delayed Participant Evaluation
Training Course Title: How to Provide Financial Education to Female Clients
Audience: Financial Advisors
Instructions: Thank you for attending the training. As we value your feedback, please take a
moment to complete this questionnaire. We appreciate your input and suggestions. Your survey
participation is voluntary, and your feedback is anonymous. Please return this survey when at
least 30 days have elapsed since your attendance in the training.
Evaluation Questions (Level 1)
1. The training was relevant to my efforts to provide financial education to my female clients.
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

2. I am satisfied with the quality of the training program.
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

Evaluation Questions (Level 2)
3. The training has improved my skills as a financial advisor by enhancing my ability to provide
female clients with financial education to improve their financial decision-making skills.
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

152
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

4. The support materials (such as workbooks, handouts, power points, and worksheets) provided
in the training helped me to deepen my learning of what tools to use and what topics to cover in
financial education programming for women.
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

Evaluation Questions (Level 3)
5. Financial education events for women are included in my annual business planning.
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

6. My annual planning for clients includes their participation in at least one financial education
event.
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

Evaluation Questions (Level 4)
7. I offer financial educational programing for women on a regular basis.
FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

153
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree
8. I use what I learned in the training to effectively provide gender-relevant financial education
for female clients.
1 2 3 4 5
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

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APPENDIX F
Data Analysis and Reporting
Form Title: Annual Dashboard
Audience: Financial Advisors
Instructions: The Annual Dashboard is designed to assist in tracking Financial Education efforts
of Financial Advisors. The Dashboard is set up for calendar year planning. Goals are set on an
annual basis and results are tracked monthly. Results are tallied for the year in each of the eight
categories and the percentage that the actual results represent of the annual goals are calculated
at the end of the year.
Annual
Dashboard
Goal J F M A M J J A S O N D Total % of
Goal
# of Group
Sessions
Scheduled

# of Group
Sessions
Conducted

# of Sign-ups
for Group
Sessions

# of Attendees
in Group
Sessions

# of individual
sessions
conducted

FINANCIAL EDUCATION AND FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR WOMEN

155
# of
individuals
with more
than one
educational
engagement

# of new
clients

# of new
female clients

Abstract (if available)

Abstract Financial literacy involves learning to be an informed and effective financial decision maker, requiring adaptable skills that can adjust to age, health, income, wealth, needs, and personal goals. Financial education can provide financial knowledge which can inform financial literacy. Research shows that women test as less financially literate than men (Prast & van Soest, 2016). As women control the majority of wealth and make the majority of financial decisions, this study explored the financial advisors’ and financial services companies’ practice of providing financial education to women. The stakeholders of focus were financial advisors who had client facing practices where financial education for women was a part of their business model. The purpose of this study was to explore the knowledge, motivation, and organizational influences that impact financial advisors’ ability to provide financial educational programing to female clients. The study explored the professional practices of financial advisors to determine how client access to financial education best fit into their business models, and if there was ongoing engagement in financial education by female clients. The study also explored the impact of organizational support from financial services companies for financial education for women. The study methodology was qualitative and consisted of interviews with financial advisors, interviews with financial services executive leadership, and analysis of relevant artifacts and documents. The study culminated with recommendations to support financial advisors in their practice of delivering financial education to women with the goal of improving their financial literacy, illuminating the role of private sector financial services providers.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Barbera, Daralee Susan (author)

Core Title Financial literacy for women and the role of financial education: an exploratory study of promising practices

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Organizational Change and Leadership (On Line)

Publication Date 06/17/2019

Defense Date 04/25/2019

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag client education,consumer education,consumer help,female clients,financial advisor,financial advisor training,financial education,financial knowledge,financial literacy,financial services organizations,gender diversity,OAI-PMH Harvest,retirement planning,United States financial education,wealth management,Women

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Seli, Helena (committee chair), Lynch, Douglas (committee member), Malloy, Courtney (committee member)

Creator Email daraleebarbera@me.com,dbarbera@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-175426

Unique identifier UC11660641

Identifier etd-BarberaDar-7485.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-175426 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-BarberaDar-7485.pdf

Dmrecord 175426

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Barbera, Daralee Susan

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA