J. Myanmar Acad. Arts Sci. 2020 Vol. XVIII. No.

BUDGETING HABIT BEHAVIOR OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN

YANGON UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS
Nwe Ni Aung 1 and Hla Hla Mon 2

Abstract
Budgeting habits are important for every person. By the time students are in universities, at least
they are in charge of their own finances. How well they manage their personal budget may
indicate how well they will manage their company’s budget on the job. This study intends to
analyze budgeting habits of undergraduate students in Yangon University of Economics. The
study used descriptive and analytical methods and conducted a questionnaire survey on a sample
of 375 undergraduate students. It was found that the budgeting habits of students are different
based on gender. The study also showed that the significant portions of their budget are used to
spend on shopping, eating out, mobile phone expenditures, attending training for their career
progress, travelling on short trip with their friends and transportation. It can be seen that the
majority of students lack proper budgeting habits. The study suggested that the students should
know how much they can spend and how they can improve their budgeting habits.
Keywords: Budgeting habit behavior, Family influence, Peer group influence, Financial literacy,
Self-control

Introduction
A person’s ability to manage money is essential for being successful in life. Effective
financial management strategies are important for all members of society, including university
students. University students are always in a deep dilemma, since they have constrained
allowances to cover high monthly expenses like hostel fee, tuition fee, food and other
consumptions. Therefore, it is vital for them to properly manage their money.
Having good budgeting habit represents one of the most predictable determinants of
successful personal and economic development. If a person does not have good budgeting habit
behavior, one does not have extra money and cannot save. Therefore, only the persons who have
extra can save the money. Having good budgeting habit behavior is not an easy task. There are
many people who wish to save some portion of their income and they also believe that saving is
very helpful for their future. But they cannot save and they always postpone their saving and
budgeting plan. It happens not only to the normal people but also to the people in higher earning
jobs.
On the other hand, having good budgeting habit and saving provides the economic
security of a safety net. Saving can be defined as transferring resources from the present to the
future. By doing like this, people can be ready to face with unexpected and irregular situations
including financial circumstances. From the saving and good budgeting behavior point of view,
the saving amount is not an important issue because even a person saving a lot of money for only
one time is worse than the person who saves regularly. Saving and having good budgeting habit
behavior lead to accumulation of wealth and individuals are able to improve their living standard
and to respond to new opportunities.

1
Dr, Lecturer, Department of Management Studies, Yangon University of Economics
2
Dr, Associate Professor, Department of Management Studies, Yangon University of Economics
40 J. Myanmar Acad. Arts Sci. 2020 Vol. XVIII. No.8

Generally, having financial knowledge is one way of increasing savings and asset
accumulation. Financial knowledge can help to promote financial budgeting and then help people
to be more aware of financial opportunities, choices and possible consequences. Due to saving,
people can create better life and then saving and having good budgeting habit behavior can do
smooth consumption and meet social, religious and other obligations. Therefore, the young adults
should practice to save their money and have a better future. Solving any financial problems
during the early stage of students’ life could bring positive impact on their future life, family and
career.
University students need to prepare good budgeting habits before they are faced with
financial difficulties in their life. There are many researches that have been conducted globally to
measure the budgeting habit behavior among university students. This study focuses on the
budgeting habit behavior among undergraduate students in Yangon University of Economics and
factors influencing this budgeting habit behavior.

Problem Statement
Budget is to be in control. A person’s capability to administer individual finance has
become an important matter in today’s world. Naturally, different people would set different
emphasis and value on their money. Budgeting habit behavior is still considered less for many
people. If the students manage their personal budget well in university, they will manage the
company’s budget on the job well. Therefore, the students need to improve budgeting habits at
university level and they can know how to control their budget before they enter their work. This
positive attitude will help them to practice proper budgeting habit behavior concerning with
financial management as working adults.

Research Objectives
The main objectives of the study are as follow:
(a) To explore influencing factors on budgeting habit behavior of undergraduate students in
Yangon University of Economics;
(b) To analyze the effect of influencing factors on budgeting habit behavior of undergraduate
students in Yangon University of Economics.

Scope and Method of the Study

This study mainly focuses on the budgeting habit behavior of undergraduate students in
Yangon University of Economics, Yarthargyi Campus at (2017 – 2018) Academic year. Simple
random sampling method and multi linear regression analysis are used in this study. Out of 4980
students of Yangon University of Economics in (2017 - 2018) Academic Year, 375 students are
selected for this study by using Taro Yamane Formula.

Literature Review
The underlying theory of the model developed in this research is based on Theory of
Planned Behavior initiated by Ajzen (1991) where Ajzen argued that people perform several
behaviors because they intend to do so. The intention can be determined by three important
J. Myanmar Acad. Arts Sci. 2020 Vol. XVIII. No.8 41

factors, which are subjective norms, attitude, and perceived behavioral control. For this study,
subjective norms on the other hand refer to how social pressures affect the students’ intention to
prepare the budget plan and it is used to explain how the influence from family and peer group
will give an impact towards their budgeting habit behavior or behavior.
Attitude means the evaluation made by the individuals towards certain behavior while
perceived behavior control refers to individuals believe on their ability to perform such
behaviors. Attitude is used to evaluate how financial literacy could predict the students’
budgeting habit behavior or behavior. While perceived behavioral control is used to explain self-
control, as students with high level of self-control will perceive the ease of budget plan because
they have the ability to regulate their desires, self-discipline and delay gratification.

INTENTION
- Subjective Norms PLANNED
- Attitude
- Perceived Behavioral Control BEHAVIOR

Source: Theory of Planned Behavior by Ajzen (1991)

Figure 1 Theory of Planned Behavior

Though there are several factors that influence the student budgeting behavior, but as
mentioned above, researchers have selected four factors after reading literature in the field on
student’s attitude towards budgeting habit behavior.
According to Otto (2009), there was empirical evidence that parents can promote the
development of skills to their children that are important for saving. The purpose of the research
is to investigate the role of parents in developing their children’s saving ability and competence
in adolescence. The research was conducted in Netherland with 690 Dutch participants who are
191 husbands, 191 wives, and 308 children aged from 16 to 21. The results showed that parental
behavior and parental orientation have a weak but clear impact on the economic behavior of their
children and in their adulthood. The conception aspect of parents’ behavior was influencing the
economic behavior of their children.
A study was done by Erskine, Kier, Leung, and Sproule (2005) to examine further
predictors for the budgeting habit behavior of young people. The study was conducted in
Toronto, Canada and a total number of 1806 young Canadians aged 12 to 24 participated in this
research. According to the economic theory of time preference and psychological theories about
adolescent crowds, they predicted that the groups would be more patient and more likely to save
money if they are placed high on the adult or academic-oriented dimension while the groups that
are placed high on the peer group-oriented dimension were expected to be less patient and less
likely to save money. Thus, the result indicated that peer group influence has an impact on
individuals’ budgeting habit behavior.
Financial literacy is defined as sufficient knowledge of personal finance facts and terms
for successful personal financial management (Thomas Garman, 1997). Meanwhile, Anthes
42 J. Myanmar Acad. Arts Sci. 2020 Vol. XVIII. No.8

(2004) defined financial literacy as the ability to read, analyze, manage and communicate about
the personal financial conditions that affect the material well-being.
Delafrooz and Laily (2011) had conducted a study to examine the degree to which
financial literacy influenced the budgeting habit behavior. This research had been conducted via
quantitative methodology by distributing self-administered questionnaires to 2,246 employees in
the public and private sectors. The finding showed that budgeting habit behavior is significantly
influenced by the financial literacy whereby individuals with low level of financial literacy do
not intend to save and eventually encounter financial problems in future.
Self-control is the ability to identify and regulate one’s emotions and desires. It is
characterized by the exertion of will, self-discipline, and ability to delay gratification
(Baumeister, 2002). The research of Esenvalde (2010) has provided empirical evidence that self-
control was positively associated with budgeting habit behavior. The author claimed that self-
control is a very solidly and uniformly factor used to explain budgeting habit behavior.
According to Mahdzan and Tabiani (2013, as cited in Hinga, 2012), a positive attitude in
an individual budgeting habit behavior is shown by the people who save more frequently, as
opposed to those who do not save. The probability of having a positive saving attitude is
significantly related to the saving regularity. Moreover, the act of setting aside a portion of the
income as saving would most likely to lead to higher probability of having positive saving
attitude. In sum, many past studies have examined the relationship between financial intention
(family influence and peer group influence), attitude (financial literacy), behavioral perceived
control (self-control) and budgeting habit behavior in university students. As Greene (2014) and
Baker, Bettinger, Jacob, and Marinescu (2018) examined the relationship between financial
intention (family influence, peer group influence, financial literacy) and budgeting habit behavior
and found that an increase in financial awareness which engage in a positive budgeting habit
behavior of an individual.

Conceptual Framework of the Study

The research model shown in Figure (2) is constructed on the basis of the number of
researches done in the area of student attitude towards budgeting and spending behavior
specifically and broadly on student behavior.

Family Influence
Budgeting Habits Behavior
Peer group Influence
Disciplined
Adequate
Financial Literacy
Poorest
Self - control

Source: Own Compilation based on Ajzen’s (1991) Planned Behavior Theory and Daft (2014) Budgeting Habits

Figure 2 Conceptual Framework of the Study

J. Myanmar Acad. Arts Sci. 2020 Vol. XVIII. No.8 43

The above framework is based from the theory of Planned Behavior developed by
Ajzen’s (1991) and serve as the foundation of this study. The diagram shown in Figure (2)
depicts the relationship between dependent variable and independent variables. Budgeting habit
behavior of students such as disciplined budgeting habits, adequate budgeting habits, and poorest
budgeting habits are perceived as dependent variables whereas family influence, peer group
influence, financial literacy and self-control are the independent variables as factors influencing
the student’s budgeting habit behavior.

Demographic Profile of Respondents

This demographic profile of selected students is shown in Table (1) and (2).
Table 1 Demographic Profile of Selected Students
No. Demographic Factor Descriptions Number Percentage
Total 375 100.00
Male 95 25.33
Gender
1 Female 280 74.67
<18 73 19.47
2 19 – 21 297 79.20
Age level (year)
22 – 24 4 1.07
>25 1 0.26
1st Year 71 18.93
2nd Year 97 25.87
3 Academic Year 3rd Year 98 26.13
4th Year 105 28.00
Qualify 4 1.07
Only one 62 16.53
4 Number of Family 2–4 297 79.20
5–7 16 4.27
< 200,000 93 24.80
5 Average Monthly 200,001 – 300,000 197 52.53
Received Allowance 300,001 – 400,000 53 14.13
(Kyats) >400,000 32 8.54
<10,000 293 78.13
6 Average Monthly 10,001 -50,000 74 19.74
Saving (Kyats) 50,001 – 100,000 6 1.60
>100,000 2 0.53
Source: Survey Data (July,2018)

The descriptive analysis results derived from the demographic profile of the selected
students show that majority respondents fall into the age group between 19 – 21 years old
because respondents are undergraduate students. Besides, most of the students have number of
family between two and four, and they receive monthly allowance between MMK 200,001 –
MMK 300,000. They use their monthly allowance for living, meal, transportation allowance and
pocket money.
44 J. Myanmar Acad. Arts Sci. 2020 Vol. XVIII. No.8

Table 2 Reasons for Spending and Saving

No. Reasons Descriptions Male Female Total Percentage
375 100.00
Shopping 25 32 57 15.20
Fast food 91 7 98 26.13
Mobile Phone 55 48 103 27.47
Reasons
7 Training for career progress 16 18 34 9.07
for
Beauty 0 31 31 8.27
Spending
Health Care 1 4 5 1.33
Movies 6 1 7 1.87
Short trip 28 12 40 10.66
8 Reasons Increasing of saving money 15 39 54 14.40
for Saving Use for unexpected events 32 196 228 60.80
Investment 8 85 93 24.80
Source: Survey Data (July, 2018)

According to Table (2), the result shows that reasons for spending and saving are
different between male students and female students. Male students are more likely to spend
having fast food and usage of mobile phone. These are not surprise result because of the nature of
male students. Habits of most male students are going out to eat and watching football games and
movies with their friends. Most female students save their money for use of unexpected events.
A survey on the budgeting habit behavior of undergraduate students in Yangon University
of Economics found that most of the students use their pocket money to spend on mobile usage,
having fast food, shopping, attending training for their career progress, travelling on short trip
with their friends and transportation. Moreover, the reasons of saving are increasing saving
money, spending for unexpected events and investment. Among them, most students save for
their money to spend for unexpected events such as treatment of illness and birthday present for
friends.

Influencing Factors on Budegeting Habits Behavior of Undergraduate Students

in YUE
The first objective of the study is to explore the influencing factors on budgeting habit
behavior. According to theory of Planned Behavior developed by Ajzen (1991), influencing
factors on budgeting habit behavior of undergraduate students passed through four factors. They
are family influence, peer group influence, financial literacy, and self-control.
Table 3 Influencing Factors on Budgeting habit behavior
No. Description Overall Mean
1 Family Influence 3.70
2 Peer Group Influence 3.33
3 Financial Literacy 3.33
4 Self-Control 3.67
Source: Survey Data (July, 2108)

According to the overall mean value of 3.70, it indicates that most of the parents
influence on spending of their children about money management, spending. Moreover, they help
their children to save money, and to behave good budgeting habit behavior. Therefore, it can be
J. Myanmar Acad. Arts Sci. 2020 Vol. XVIII. No.8 45

concluded that parents are the primary community for their children, and parents are the key
educator of their children. Poor income management of parent is related to budgeting habit
behavior of their children. The results also show that students watch and see their parent’s
budgeting habits and they emulate their parent’s habits.
However, it is found that peer group does not influence on budgeting habit behavior of
the undergraduate students in Yangon University of Economics, Yarthargyi Campus according to
mean value of 3.33. It can be said that most of the students become less dependent on their peer
group concern with their budgeting behavior because they manage and control their budget plans
without helping others.
According to the data analysis, overall mean value of financial literacy has 3.33.
Therefore, it can be said that majority of students do not practice proper money management
skills. Moreover, students have a lack of knowledge relating with financial literacy. They are not
receiving the financial knowledge necessary to be successful in today’s fast paced economy.
According to the results, some students face with the difficulty to manage their money. Due to
their personal finances and the economy, undergraduate students need greater knowledge about
their personal finances and the economy.
Based on the results, overall mean value of 3.67 shows that most of the students do not
want to control their money and they want to spend their money as soon as they receive because
of their age and desire to do a lot of things like eating with friends, shopping the necessary
things, and visiting the park. Moreover, self-control constitutes saving and spending habits
including consumption now or future and plans for saving and the self-control ability to manage
their money for future. If the students cannot control use of their money themselves, they will
not have money when they need it.

Budgeting Habit Behavior of Undergraduate Students in YUE

This section aims to explore the budgeting habit behavior of undergraduate students in
Yangon University of Economics. Then, budgeting habit behavior is divided into three groups in
this study. They are disciplined budgeting habit behavior, adequate budgeting habit behavior, and
poorest budgeting habit behaviors.
Table 4 Budgeting Habit Behavior
No. Description Mean
1 Disciplined Budgeting Habit Behavior 3.26
2 Adequate Budgeting Habit Behavior 3.58
3 Poorest Budgeting Habit Behavior 3.66
Source: Survey Data (July, 2018)

According to overall mean value of disciplined budgeting habit behavior 3.26, it can be
shown that most of the undergraduate students have a lack of budgeting plan and financial
discipline. They cannot arrange their spending properly and they do not burden borrowing from
their friends. If the students have a lack of financial discipline, they will always struggle with
money. Learning discipline with money is not always easy, but it will be necessary if the student
want to arrange saving in the future.
46 J. Myanmar Acad. Arts Sci. 2020 Vol. XVIII. No.8

Based on finding results, some of the undergraduate students have an adequate budgeting
habit behavior. Adequate budgeting habits allow creating a spending plan for money. The most
important advantage of adequate budgeting habit behavior is conducting business in the
most efficient manner because students know that budgets are prepared to get the effective
utilization of resources and the realization of objectives as efficiently as possible. Moreover,
university student life is a good time to establish and practice good financial habits for the future.
As a university student struggling to make ends meet, establishing a budget gives insight to
personal spending habits. It helps people recognize what expenses are essential and what things
are unnecessary. Learning to effectively manage money in university level is an essential skill
and it can help the students throughout their lives.
According to the overall mean value of poorest budgeting habit behavior 3.66, it shows
that most of the students have poorest budgeting habit behavior. Many students attending first
year in university find themselves overspending. In university, young adults are given the
freedom to manage their own time and money. Without parents to patrol their spending, they
may find themselves spending more money than they should. Thus, it can be concluded that the
undergraduate students cannot control their spending because of their age level and lack of
knowledge relating with financial literacy.

The Effect of Influencing Factors on Budgeting Habit Behavior of Undergraduate

Students in YUE
This section aims to analyze the effect of influencing factors on budgeting habit behavior
of undergraduate students in Yangon University of Economics, Yarthargyi Campus. Dependent
variable is budgeting habit behavior (most disciplined budgeting habit behavior, adequate
budgeting habit behavior, and poorest budgeting habit behavior) and independent variables are
family influence, peer group influence, financial literacy, and self-control.

The Effect of Influencing Factors on Disciplined Budgeting habit behavior

To determine whether influencing factors on disciplined budgeting habit behavior of
undergraduate students in Yangon University of Economies, multiple linear regression model is
used.
Table 5 Effect of Influencing Factors on Disciplined Budgeting habit behavior
Unstandardized Coefficients
Model t value Sig
B Std. Error
(Constant) .796*** .257 3.103 .003
Family Influence .652*** .056 11.727 .000
Peer group Influence .210** .093 2.258 .029
Financial Literacy .189** .086 2.195 .033
Self-Control .702*** .063 11.156 .000
R2 0.865
Adjusted R2 0.856
F value 102.448***
Source: Survey Data (July, 2018)
***Coefficient is significant at 0.01 Level, **Coefficient is significant at 0.05 Level
J. Myanmar Acad. Arts Sci. 2020 Vol. XVIII. No.8 47

According to stepwise method, the results shown in Table (5), only two of the
independent variables are strongest statistically significant according to the model among the
four variables that reflect most disciplined budgeting habit behavior. From the results, family
influence, peer group influence, financial literacy and self-control influence on disciplined
budgeting habit behavior of undergraduate students in Yangon University of Economics,
Yarthargyi Campus.
Regarding with family influence, parents are the primary teacher for their children, they
teach their children to be serious in mind. In this research, parents’ management about budget
plan is considered as one aspect which influences student’s most disciplined budgeting habit
behavior. Perhaps more management from parents can make their children to do saving or not.
Moreover, parents with high educational background are supposedly tended to teach the children
about the importance of budget plan, or at least remember that their parents have given the
advice. With more knowledge about budgeting habit behavior, parents ought to have more
experiences and knowledge about financial problems and the pressure about it that can be shared
to their children.
Concerning with peer group influence, there has a fact that point out that students spend
more time with their peers compared with others. A study conducted involving 375 students
claimed that peer group influence has relationship with budgeting habit behavior. In that study, it
shows that peer group influence has weak relationship and it indicated that student budgeting
habit behavior is poorly influence by their peers.
Financial literacy is used as one of the factors that determine student’s most disciplined
budgeting habit behavior in this study. It is provided that there is positive relationship between
financial literacy and budgeting habit behavior. However, it does not give the most influence
factor in this study. Therefore, it can be concluded that if the students with higher knowledge of
disciplined budgeting habit behavior are more likely to engage in saving habits.
Relating to self-control, which is an ability to alter dominant response tendencies and to
regulate behavior, thoughts and emotions, people with more self-control are more likely to attain
their goals and be more successful in various life domains. At the same time, students who
present better self-control on budgeting habit behavior achieve greater success in an adult life.
Therefore, the finding shows that students are more likely to save if they are able to control
themselves via implementing sound budgeting and economic cost assessment.

The Effect of Influencing Factors on Adequate Budgeting habit behavior

To determine whether influencing factors on most disciplined budgeting habit behavior of
undergraduate students in Yangon University of Economies, multiple linear regression model is
used. According to stepwise method, variables are step by step eliminated from the model and
the results are shown in Table (6).
48 J. Myanmar Acad. Arts Sci. 2020 Vol. XVIII. No.8

Table 6 Effect of Influencing Factors on Adequate Budgeting habit behavior

Unstandardized Coefficients
Model t value Sig
B Std. Error
(Constant) .295 .310 .949 .344
Family Influence .369*** .050 7.397 .000
Financial Literacy .131** .064 2.045 .046
Self-Control .211*** .053 3.985 .000
R2 0.782
Adjusted R2 0.773
F value 81.835***
Source: Survey Data (July, 2018)
***Coefficient is significant at 0.01 Level, **Coefficient is significant at 0.05 Level

According to the study, family influence, financial literacy and self-control influence on
adequate budgeting habit behavior of undergraduate students in Yangon University of
Economics, Yarthargyi Campus. It is can be found that influencing factors on budgeting habit
behavior. There was a strongly significant correlation between influencing factors and budgeting
habit behavior. Adequate budgeting habit behavior of undergraduate students is not influenced by
peer group because they are same age level and desire for spending is very similar with each
other. At this age level, they want to spend like their friends.

The Effect of Influencing Factors on Poorest Habits Behavior

To determine whether influencing factors on poorest budgeting habit behavior of
undergraduate students in Yangon University of Economies, multiple linear regression model is
used.
Table 7 Effect of Influencing Factors on Poorest Habits Behavior
Unstandardized Coefficients
Model B Std. Error t value Sig
(Constant) .700 .382 1.835 .072
Self-Control .863*** .104 8.285 .000
R2 0.579
Adjusted R2 0.570
F value 68.635***
Source: Survey Data (July, 2018), ***Coefficient is significant at 0.01 Level

According to stepwise method, variables are step by step eliminated from the model and
the results are shown in Table (7). Only one of the independent variable made a statistically
significant contribution in the model among four variables that reflect poorest budgeting habit
behavior. There was a strongly significant correlation between influencing self-control and
poorest budgeting habit behavior.
Based on the results, only self-control factor influences on poorest budgeting habit
behavior of undergraduate students in Yangon University of Economics, Yarthargyi Campus. It
can be said most of the students want to spend more than they receive. If the students cannot
control themselves, they will have poorest budgeting habit behavior. They can spend their
monthly expenditure within limited budget because they depend on their parents or relatives.
J. Myanmar Acad. Arts Sci. 2020 Vol. XVIII. No.8 49

Conclusion
The descriptive analysis results derived from the demographic profile of the sampled
students show that majority respondents are female and fall into the age group between 19 – 21
years old. Besides, most of the students have number of family between two and four, and they
receive monthly allowance between MMK 200,001 – MMK 300,000. Moreover, they save the
money under MMK 10,000 to spend for emergencies and most spending is in mobile phone
usage.
This research has provided the findings on how each factor can influence the students’
budgeting habit behavior. Meanwhile, if budgeting habit behavior is not practiced by the
students, they may eventually encounter financial problems such as inability to repay the loans
and poor financial management. Thus, the researchers believe that this study can provide
practical implications to good budgeting habits by identifying the factors affecting student’s
budgeting habit behavior.
Based on the results, there is sufficient evidence to conclude that influencing factors and
budgeting habit behavior are positively related (p<0.05). The result concluded showed that
family influence have a clear impact on the budgeting habit behavior of students. Therefore,
family influence is inevitable in guiding and encouraging their children to save. This study also
enlightens that peer influence is a significant factor to stride forward to a high saving generation.
For instance, students who are surrounded by peers who do practice saving are more likely to
save as they believed that by doing so ensure them to fit into the group easily. As a result, the
students are more likely to spread the relevant information among their peers.
The findings of study are also important for future life of students. Having identified that
financial literacy is important for university students to maintain an effective budgeting habit
behavior; it becomes clear that better of financial literacy will enable the students to manage their
money effectively. As most research has emphasized, having financial literacy is the best way to
enhance university students’ financial knowledge and skills. Furthermore, this study shows that
self-control of an individual plays an important role towards the budgeting habit behavior and
also the students to save more by having high self-control. To avoid desirability bias arise in self-
report measure, future research may find it helpful to verify participants’ perception by using
additional measures (Erskine et al, 2005).
This study will help banks to gain better understanding of budgeting habit behavior
among university students in Myanmar. Therefore, the findings enlighten the banks to discover
new opportunities for acquiring this group of university students as their valuable customers.
Understanding about the fact that parents could play an important role in facilitating their
children budgeting habit behavior is important for retail banks to design their marketing
strategies in targeting the young savers. Instead of directly communicating the financial products
to the young savers, retail banks can offer more attractive saving schemes to encourage saving
among parents since their attitude and behavior are highly adhered by their children. Therefore,
banks can attract the young savers indirectly through their parents’ behavior.
Hence, behavioral intention is suggested to be included as a mediating variable in future
study as it can explain a person's readiness to perform a given behavior (Ajzen, 1991). For
instance, perhaps a student with high level of financial literacy and self-control may not likely to
foster a budgeting habit behavior because he or she does not have the intention to save. In the
50 J. Myanmar Acad. Arts Sci. 2020 Vol. XVIII. No.8

analytical point of view, given in the study is insufficient to explain all the systematic variance,
hence future research are recommended to comprise mediating factors to better explain the
relationship between independent variables and dependent variable. Rather than using the self-
administered questionnaire to collect data solely, researchers are suggested to use alternative data
collection method such as field observations.

Acknowledgements
I would like to express my immense gratitude to Rector Dr. Tin Win and Pro-Rector Dr. Nilar Myint Htoo,
Yangon University of Economics for their encouragement to complete this research. We are sincerely thankful to
Professor Dr. Nu Nu Lwin, Head of Department of Management Studies, Professor Dr. Myint Myint Kyi and for
their precious support and invaluable advice. We wish to convey my sincere thanks to our colleagues, Department of
Management Studies, Yangon University of Economics for their moral support, assistance and willingness to help
throughout the period of writing research.

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