The Interplay of Financial Literacy, Capability and Autonomy in Financial Decision Making and Financial Well-Being: A Synthetic Survey Study of Working Women in North Maharashtra

Abstract

This paper examines the conceptual and statistical interplay among financial knowledge and awareness, financial planning, financial capability, autonomy, and financial decision making among working women in North Maharashtra. The study instrument was based on the supplied questionnaire, which captures demographic characteristics, 7-point Likert-scale perceptions of financial knowledge and awareness, financial planning, financial capability, decision making, and rankings of financial products. To demonstrate a complete analysis workflow, a synthetic dataset of 200 working-women cases was generated with controlled random variation across all questionnaire items. Descriptive statistics, internal consistency, correlation analysis, multiple linear regression, and product-priority ranking were applied.

The synthetic results indicate moderate-to-positive relationships among the major constructs: awareness correlated with financial capability (r = 0.501) and decision making (r = 0.483), while capability correlated with decision making (r = 0.444). The regression model explained 33.9% of the synthetic variation in decision making, with financial knowledge and awareness showing the largest standardized-direction contribution in the model. Reliability estimates were acceptable to excellent, with Cronbach's alpha ranging from 0.787 to 0.924. However, because the dataset is synthetic and the supplied questionnaire does not contain a direct financial well-being scale, the findings cannot be interpreted as

evidence about the actual population. The paper therefore functions as a methodological and analytical prototype for the next stage of field-data collection.