The Impact of Financial Literacy on Social Entrepreneurship Tendencies Among University Students: Evidence from Turkey

This study examines the relationship between university students’ financial literacy and their social entrepreneurship tendencies, using a convenience sample of 245 students from a single public university in Turkey. Two previously validated scales were employed, and reliability analyses indicated high internal consistency (α = 0.828–0.936). Regression analyses indicate that financial literacy partially and statistically significantly explains social entrepreneurship tendencies, although the effect size is modest (R2 = 0.016), suggesting that additional individual, social, and contextual factors likely play a larger role. Sub-dimension analyses indicate that financial literacy is significantly associated with Financial Return, Sustainability, and Social Networks (p < 0.05; p < 0.01), while associations with Social Vision and Innovation were not statistically significant, reflecting its partial contribution to social entrepreneurship tendencies. Demographic comparisons indicate significant differences based on gender, academic level, academic achievement, parental education, and the presence of an entrepreneur in the family (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that financial literacy can support socially responsible entrepreneurial tendencies, while acknowledging that the observed effects are modest and the sample is limited to a single university. The study emphasizes the importance of integrating financial literacy and entrepreneurship education into higher education curricula, while clearly acknowledging the study’s methodological limitations and the small magnitude of observed effects.