Don’t Talk About Money: Causes of Clergy Reluctance to Address Financial Needs

While clergy may passionately discuss many topics of religious thought and practice, many struggle when talking about financial literacy and the financial needs of their own congregation. Too few studies examine this gap and religious leaders’ struggle in addressing financial issues. Leveraging the theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study utilizes exploratory interviews and survey results from a sample of U.S. based clergy. This study finds that financial knowledge and prioritization precede the three dimensions of TPB, which in turn strongly influence financial literacy intentions and actual financial literacy behaviors. However, intention and behavior only weakly predict increases in financial appeal behaviors in the form of presenting needs and asking for support. To our knowledge, this study is the first to provide empirical evidence of the relationships that these antecedents have with elements of TPB, and TPB’s relationships with financial literacy intention as well as financial literacy and appeal behaviors. These findings contribute to the religious management literature on attitudes toward questions of financial literacy and appeals.