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      Evaluating Budgeting Apps: Limited Support for Budgeting Compared to Tracking

      Published
      proceedings-article
      Author(s): ,
      Publication date (Print):
      Conference name: 36th International BCS Human-Computer Interaction Conference (BCS HCI 23)
      Conference theme: The BCS Human-Computer Interaction Conference 2023 was co-located with the INTERACT 2023 conference, the theme of which was "Design for Equlity and Justice", as increasingly, computer science as a discipline is becoming concerned about issues of justice and equality – from fake news to rights for robots, from the ethics of driverless vehicles to the gamergate controversy. The BCS HCI Conference welcomed submissions on all aspects of human-computer interaction. Topics included: User Experience, usability testing and interaction design; Education and Health; Smart Energy, Smart Transport and the Internet of Things; Interaction Technologies and Applications.
      Conference date: 28–29 August 2023
      Keywords: Financial behaviours, Budgeting apps, Money envelopes
      Bookmark

            Abstract

            Financial behaviour is deeply embedded in our lives, yet for many people its success remains problematic. The need for supporting tools in this space is reflected in the growing number and popularity of budgeting apps, albeit limited research has focused on evaluating them. This paper describes a functionality review from the lens of mental accounting theory of 45 top-rated budgeting apps selected from 1335 apps on Google Play Store and Apple Store. Findings indicate that while all apps support tracking of transactions, one third of the apps do not support budgeting informed by money envelopes. We also report challenges regarding the meaning of key concepts of “accounts” and “transactions” for which we proposed novel design implications including a more nuanced vocabulary to talk about accounts and transaction types, new knowledge to have better support for budgeting through mental accounting theory and grounding budgeting as cognitive process in actual financial behaviour.

            Content

            Author and article information

            Contributors
            Mariam Alenazi
            Corina Sas
            Conference
            Publication date: August 2023
            Publication date (Print): August 2023
            Pages: 1-12
            Affiliations
            [0001]Lancaster University

            Lancaster, UK
            Article
            DOI: 10.14236/ewic/BCSHCI2023.1
            SO-VID: 1a6566cc-a720-48b8-a6e5-5b07603be860
            Copyright © © Alenazi et al. Published by BCS Learning and Development Ltd. Proceedings of BCS HCI 2023, UK
            License:

            This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

            Conference name: 36th International BCS Human-Computer Interaction Conference
            Conference acronym: BCS HCI 23
            Conference number: 36
            Conference location: University of York, UK
            Conference date: 28–29 August 2023
            Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)
            Conference theme: The BCS Human-Computer Interaction Conference 2023 was co-located with the INTERACT 2023 conference, the theme of which was "Design for Equlity and Justice", as increasingly, computer science as a discipline is becoming concerned about issues of justice and equality – from fake news to rights for robots, from the ethics of driverless vehicles to the gamergate controversy. The BCS HCI Conference welcomed submissions on all aspects of human-computer interaction. Topics included: User Experience, usability testing and interaction design; Education and Health; Smart Energy, Smart Transport and the Internet of Things; Interaction Technologies and Applications.
            History
            Product

            1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

            Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/BCSHCI2023.1
            Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/
            Categories
            Series title: Electronic Workshops in Computing

            ScienceOpen disciplines: Applied computer science,Computer science,Security & Cryptology,Graphics & Multimedia design,General computer science,Human-computer-interaction
            Keywords: Money envelopes,Budgeting apps,Financial behaviours

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