Mabutho Sibanda

This study assessed the factors that determine the financial management behavior of administrators in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Nigeria. The rising cases of financial mismanagement, which was associated with the financial management behavior of top administrators in these SOEs, prompted this study. It is believed that identifying the factors that determine the financial management behavior of these administrators would help to find solutions to the problem. Based on the multistage sampling technique, 385 top administrators from the SOEs at the federal level in Nigeria participated in the survey. Quantitative analysis was used to analyze the data and the results show that income, family size, and financial literacy are the most important factors affecting the financial management behavior of the administrators. It is recommended that there should be an improvement in income and other working conditions of the administrators in the SOEs since income has been confirmed to be an important shift factor of financial management behavior. In the same vein, given the role of family size, it is recommended that efforts on population reduction should be intensified. Finally, financial literacy should be given priority in checkmating irresponsible financial management behavior.