Frugality, Financial Resilience and Financial Wellbeing in Business Educators in Uganda

Purpose: This study aims to examine the relationship between frugality, financial resilience, and financial wellbeing among university business educators in Uganda. The research is motivated by the prolonged financial stress experienced by salaried professionals, particularly academic staff, following the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need to understand how personal financial behaviors influence wellbeing in such contexts. Design/methodology/approach: A cross-sectional and quantitative research design was adopted. Data were collected from 252 academic staff members at Makerere University Business School (MUBS), selected through simple random sampling from a population of 743. A structured questionnaire was used, and data were analyzed using SPSS and SmartPLS, employing descriptive statistics, factor analysis, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis. Findings: Correlation and regression analyses examined links among frugality, financial resilience, and financial wellbeing of Ugandan university educators. Results showed strong positive correlations between frugality and financial wellbeing (r = .612, p < .01) and a moderate link between financial resilience and wellbeing (r = .392, p < .01). Frugality and resilience were also positively related (r = .287, p < .01). Regression findings revealed that both variables significantly predict financial wellbeing, jointly explaining 42.1% of its variance (Adjusted R² = .421). Frugality (β = .545) had a stronger effect than financial resilience (β = .236). Practical implications: The findings highlight the importance of promoting frugal financial habits and building financial resilience among academic professionals. For university administrators, financial educators, and policymakers, the study underscores the need to design targeted financial literacy programs that enhance budgeting skills, resourcefulness, and social support systems within academic institutions. Originality/value: To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study to jointly assess the impact of frugality and financial resilience on financial wellbeing among university educators in a least developed country. Grounded in Knowledge Gap Theory (KGT), the study contributes to the understanding of how financial knowledge and behavior translate into wellbeing outcomes in homogeneous academic settings. Paper type: Research paper