Future Generations' Perceptions and Evaluations of Financial Intermediaries: A Multivariate Analysis in the Digital and Sustainable Era

ABSTRACT The rapid digital transformation of financial services, increasing regulatory pressure and the growing strategic relevance of sustainability are reshaping financial intermediaries and how they are perceived by younger generations. In this context, traditional monetary compensation schemes are increasingly insufficient to explain how financial institutions are perceived in terms of trustworthiness, legitimacy and long‐term relevance both as service providers and as potential employers. Instead, nonmonetary rewards, including institutional trustworthiness, technological orientation, ethical values and sustainability commitment, emerge as key components of an integrated institutional and employer reward mix shaping early expectations. Drawing on a survey‐based analysis of 462 young individuals in a pre‐labour‐market phase, this study adopts a forward‐looking perspective to examine how nonmonetary rewards are internalised before direct market or organisational involvement. Using multiple correspondence analysis and cluster analysis, the findings reveal substantial heterogeneity in younger generations' perceptions of financial intermediaries, identifying distinct profiles with markedly different attitudes towards digitalisation, artificial intelligence, sustainability and financial behaviour. The results show that sustainability orientation and technological empowerment are interpreted as sources of anticipatory nonmonetary value, being associated with more favourable evaluative perceptions and attitudinal orientations among digitally engaged and career‐oriented profiles, while remaining less salient for more sceptical or disengaged groups. By highlighting these differentiated patterns, the study contributes to the understanding of how younger generations evaluate financial intermediaries and offers insight into how digital and sustainability strategies may be aligned with the evolving expectations of the future workforce and customer base. The study advances research by showing how anticipatory nonmonetary rewards are associated with early‐stage legitimacy perceptions and trust‐related attitudes in highly regulated industries.