About

Virginia Solis Zuiker is an Associate Professor in the Family Social Science department at the University of Minnesota. She teaches courses around individuals and family finance and counseling and conducts research on the financial socialization of college students and how family businesses manage cash flow.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Business
• Social Science
• Computer Science
• Computer Security
• Finance
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Marketing
• Public relations
• Social psychology
• Geography
• Materials science

Selected publications

• Navigating Financial Anxiety: Insights Into Family Financial Resources During the COVID-19 Global Pandemic

  Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning · 2025-01-02

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Exploring financial education and financial capability: A subgroup analysis of self‐employed and paid‐employed

  Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal · 2025-11-24

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Abstract The study examined the relationship between financial education and financial capability through a subgroup analysis of self‐employed and paid‐employed workers. Using the 2021 National Financial Capability Study, regression analysis with seemingly unrelated estimation shows that self‐employed workers had lower levels of financial capability than paid‐employed workers while financial education had a greater positive role on the financial capability of the self‐employed workers than paid‐employed workers. The findings suggest the importance of financial education as a positive factor in the financial capability of the self‐employed worker. Tailoring educational programs to the unique needs of self‐employed workers can enhance their effectiveness in financial capability.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Impact of Communication Technologies on Small Business Success

  Journal of Small Business Strategy · 2022-06-20 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access

  Owners of small businesses may struggle to utilize online communication technologies effectively. To understand this challenge, this study investigated communication technology contributions, the use of online communication technologies, and how those perceptions relate to small business success. Data from a small business values survey (Marshall & Wyatt, 2019) was used consisting of 511 business owners. An integrated model using the Diffusion of Innovation and the Technology Acceptance Model served as a theoretical foundation. Relationships between variables were tested using multiple regression and confirmed that small business owners perceive that easy-to-use communication technologies are not useful or contribute to business success. However, communication technologies that are perceived to be useful do contribute to business success. Business owners who are younger, located in urban areas, and in business for a shorter time are also more likely to use communication technologies. This study supports current literature, as it was unclear how small business owners perceive communication technologies for use in their businesses.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Consumer Embeddedness and Motivations for Farmers Market Patronage: A Qualitative Exploration in Minnesota, USA

  Journal of Human Sciences and Extension · 2022-12-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  The rise in popularity of farmers markets in the United States reflects consumers’ negative response to more traditional food distribution systems. Farmers markets provide consumers with a more local and often more personal food purchasing experience. The purpose of this study was to examine consumer motivations to patronize farmers markets through the lens of social, spatial, and natural embeddedness. A qualitative approach was employed utilizing semi-structured, in-depth interviews. These interviews were conducted in person using a set of predetermined questions and revealed nine themes. The findings indicate that two types of consumer choices with different properties exist in farmers market patronage (e.g., the choice of a particular farmers market vs. the choice of a particular vendor at the market). Inconsistency occurs in consumer choice patterns (e.g., economic saving does not greatly affect the choice to shop at a particular farmers market but can determine whom to buy from once at the market), implying that situational dynamics play a critical role at the point of purchase. While this study supports the usefulness of embeddedness as a conceptual framework for understanding farmers’ market patronage, it demonstrates a distinction between motivation to patronize the market and shopping behaviors exhibited once there.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Transnational Couples: The Intersections of Race, Ethnicity, Nativity, and Gender

  Journal of Feminist Family Therapy · 2022-10-02 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  Over one in ten heterosexual married couples are interracial and close to 10% of marriages are transnational. Even with the increasing rates of intermarriage there continues to be opposition to such marriages and their families. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of transnational couples, where both partners hail from different countries, as they navigate life in the U.S. Six heterosexual transnational couples across the country were interviewed separately and together using a phenomenological design, and within and across case analyses were conducted. Race, skin color, visibility, nativity, gender, and language interconnected to engender experiences that were different across every couple as they conceptualized how best to protect their families while navigating through varying social narratives, and familial and societal expectations about their relationship. The emergent themes organized into three intersecting processes -internal, intermediary, and external- as these couples navigated their different values, each other, and other systems in their lives. Implications for research and clinical practice follow.

  PublisherDOI

• Lived Experiences with Payday Loans: African American Single Mothers and Employees

  Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal · 2022-05-27 · 6 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Payday loans are disproportionately used by African Americans and women including single mothers. Little empirical research exists incorporating data from payday loan employees. This exploratory study used a phenomenological approach and in‐depth interviews to examine the lived experiences of two groups: African American single mothers who used payday loans and former payday loan employees who extended and collected on payday loans. The interviews resulted in four themes from the single mothers' experiences including “right decision at the time” and “it's addictive” and five themes from the former employees including “help the customer come back” and “relating to the customers.”

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Financial Professionals: Articulating their Roles and Delivery Methods in Financial Education

  Journal of Human Sciences and Extension · 2022-04-21

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Financial education is an approach financial professionals use with their clients to build effective money management skills across the life cycle. Financial professionals conceptualize and identify their role in providing financial education in various ways. This study used a triangulation mixed methods design from a 2013 national survey to understand how financial professionals articulate their role and to determine the delivery methods used when working with clients. The survey was first included in the analysis piloted with nine financial professionals, followed by a revised survey sent to memberships of various professional organizations resulting in 251 responses. When financial professionals were asked about the financial delivery method used with their clients, their response indicated it depended on the context of the client and the content of their financial concerns. Therefore, findings suggest that the process or relationship between the practitioner and client must have elements of flexibility and adaptability woven into their delivery method based on what the client brings to the session and/or workshop.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Transnational Couples Parenting in the United States: A story of Integration, Navigation, and Resilience

  Journal of Family Issues · 2021-03-04 · 1 citations

  articleSenior author

  Over a million people migrate and resettle in the United States every year. Subsequent to the diversification of the U.S. population is a rising rate in transnational marriage. Juxtaposed with the increasing prevalence of intermarriage are historical restrictions and continued antipathy of such marriages and the families that they build. Using a phenomenological design, this study explored how transnational couples experience their parent and partner roles. Six couples were interviewed, each partner separately and then together with in-depth questions about how their family and social and familial context informed their roles and how they navigated their relationship as parents and partners. Three themes emerged from the couples’ experience: integration of past and present selves, intersections between partners, and navigation as parents.

  PublisherDOI

• Parental Financial Socialization, Financial Experiences, and Financial Behaviors: Comparing Asian American and International Asian College Students

  Journal of Financial Counseling and Planning · 2020 · 17 citations

  • Political Science
  • Finance
  • Psychology
  PublisherDOI

• Family business research: Reviewing the past, contemplating the future

  Journal of Family and Economic Issues · 2020 · 52 citations

  • Sociology
  • Political Science
  • Public relations
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Patricia D. Olson

  University of Wisconsin–Extension

  11 shared

• Catherine Solheim

  University of Minnesota

  7 shared

• Sharon M. Danes

  6 shared

• Mary Jo Katras

  University of Wisconsin–Extension

  5 shared

• Tai J. Mendenhall

  University of Minnesota

  5 shared

• Blendine P. Hawkins

  Chaminade University of Honolulu

  4 shared

• Jennifer K. Rea

  Auburn University

  4 shared

• Catherine P. Montalto

  The Ohio State University

  4 shared

Awards & honors

• 2025 CEHD Distinguished Teaching Award
• 2024 Mary Ellen Edmondson Educator of the Year Award, Associ…
• 2022 Outstanding Paper, Family and Consumer Sciences Researc…
• 2022 Best Paper in Personal Finance and Consumer Economics,…
• 2011-2013 Elected to the Board of Directors for the Associat…