Publication type
Journal Article
Series Number
Authors
Publication date
February 9, 2026
Summary:
Bringing economic and family sociology into the digital era, this study examines and highlights the transformative potential of online banking in reconfiguring household financial organization. Using an instrumental-variable approach to analyzing data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study (2019–2023), we examine the impact of partners’ online banking use on who manages the couple’s money and controls major financial decisions. We reveal an ‘empowering effect’ whereby one’s use of online banking bolsters their control of both money management and major financial decisions, and this effect is particularly pronounced when one’s partner does not use online banking. Online banking similarly bolsters the power of women and men in money management, but subtle gender differences are observed in financial decision-making. Whereas online banking increases men’s exclusive control of major financial decisions, it bolsters women’s exclusive or joint control of such decisions. We also find an ‘individualizing effect’ whereby both women’s and men’s use of online banking increases the likelihood of partners’ independent money management, and independent money management is least likely when only one partner uses online banking. Our study provides novel insights into how digitalization, seen through online banking, redistributes power in and reconfigures the nature of couple relationships.
Published in
European Sociological Review
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcag002
ISSN
2667215
Subjects
Notes
Online Early
© The Author(s) 2026. Published by Oxford University Press.
Open Access
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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