누가 경제뉴스에 관심을 갖는가?: 인구사회학적, 소비자 기능 특성을 중심으로

This study aims to explore who among university students is interested in economic news, focusing on sociodemographic characteristics (gender, age, income level, academic year) and consumer functional characteristics (purchase function, disposal function, monetary function, usage function). This study sought to clarify the impact of such individual characteristics on the interest in and time spent consuming economic news. A survey was conducted with 400 undergraduate students from universities in Seoul, and the data was collected and analyzed using SPSS 26.0. The analysis included reliability and validity tests, descriptive statistics, factor analysis, chi-square, t-test, and hierarchical regression analysis. The main findings of the study are as follows: an analysis of the differences in economic news consumption based on sociodemographic characteristics revealed a significant difference according to gender. Specifically, men were found to consume economic news with higher involvement than women. An analysis of the differences in economic news involvement based on consumer functional characteristics showed significant differences in purchase function, monetary management function, and usage function. Those with high involvement in economic news were found to have higher levels of purchase function, monetary management function, and usage function compared to those with low involvement in economic news. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that gender, interest in saving, and monetary management function had a significant impact on the amount of time spent consuming economic news. In other words, the findings suggest that men, individuals with higher interest in saving, and those with a greater awareness of their monetary management function tend to spend more time consuming economic news. This study indicates that economic news consumption behavior is not solely dependent on sociodemographic characteristics but also significantly influenced by consumer functional characteristics, particularly individual economic capabilities such as monetary management function. Through this approach, it is expected that understanding how economic news influences university students' consumption habits and financial management behaviors can contribute to enhancing their economic decision-making abilities.