<![CDATA[This study examined whether compensatory consumption mediates the association between financial stress and online borrowing behavior and whether financial literacy moderates the association between financial stress and compensatory consumption among Generation Z users of online lending services. A quantitative cross-sectional design was employed, involving 272 Generation Z participants in East Java, Indonesia, who were current or former users of online lending services. Data were collected through an online questionnaire and analyzed using structural equation modeling with robust maximum likelihood estimation. Financial stress was not significantly associated with compensatory consumption (β = −0.053, p = .343), whereas compensatory consumption was positively and significantly associated with online borrowing behavior (β = 0.549, p < .001). The indirect effect of financial stress on online borrowing behavior through compensatory consumption was not significant. Financial literacy also did not significantly moderate the association between financial stress and compensatory consumption. These findings identify compensatory consumption as a salient psychological correlate of online borrowing behavior among Generation Z, although it did not explain how financial stress was related to such behavior. The study contributes to the behavioral finance literature by demonstrating the importance of consumption-related psychological tendencies in understanding young adults’ use of online lending services. The findings also suggest that interventions addressing online borrowing should consider the emotional and symbolic motives underlying consumption, alongside financial knowledge and economic pressures.]]>
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