IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eme/ijsepp/ijse-05-2019-0310.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does mobile money promote financial inclusion in Eswatini?

Author

Listed:
  • Siphesihle Myeni
  • Marshall Makate
  • Nyasha Mahonye

Abstract

Purpose - Mobile money, a service permitting monetary value to be digitally stored in a mobile phone and transacted to others through text messaging, is increasingly becoming available in several African countries including Eswatini. This study examines the factors associated with mobile money usage and the extent to which mobile money accelerates financial inclusion in Eswatini. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected from the nationally representative FinScope Consumer Survey for Eswatini conducted in 2014. The authors use a quasi-experimental method in propensity score matching (PSM) with bootstrapped standard errors to alleviate the possibility of selection bias associated with mobile money use and bank account ownership. As a sensitivity check, the authors calculate the average treatment effect (ATE) using kernel-based matching methods, as well as estimate a multilevel model that accounts for the hierarchical structure of data. Findings - The authors found that higher education, entrepreneurship, being female, improvement in work situation in the past year and living in urban area and in the Lubombo region all positively influence the probability to use mobile money. The results also show that individuals who use mobile money are 19% more likely to own a bank account at a formal financial institution with a higher probability estimate observed amongst rural residents. Originality/value - This study examines whether mobile money accelerates financial inclusion in Eswatini. On analysing data from the 2014 FinScope Consumer Survey, the results show that mobile money does not seem to be accelerating the reach of financial services to those who are structurally excluded from the formal financial system and suggest the need for ongoing review of the financial inclusion strategies of the country to enhance access to financial services in underserved areas. Peer review - The peer review history for this article is available at:https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-12-2019-0723

Suggested Citation

  • Siphesihle Myeni & Marshall Makate & Nyasha Mahonye, 2020. "Does mobile money promote financial inclusion in Eswatini?," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 47(6), pages 693-709, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:eme:ijsepp:ijse-05-2019-0310
    DOI: 10.1108/IJSE-05-2019-0310
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJSE-05-2019-0310/full/html?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

    File URL: https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/IJSE-05-2019-0310/full/pdf?utm_source=repec&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=repec
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/IJSE-05-2019-0310?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dlamini, Theophilus Lusito, 2020. "Factors affecting adoption of mobile money by farming households in Lomahasha Inkundla of the Lubombo Region, Eswatini," Research Theses 334777, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    2. Qiu, Christina M., 2022. "Regionalized liquidity: A cross-country analysis of mobile money deployment and inflation in developing economies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    3. Foguesatto, Cristian Rogério & Righi, Marcelo Brutti & Müller, Fernanda Maria, 2024. "Is there a dark side to financial inclusion? Understanding the relationship between financial inclusion and market risk," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    4. Madan Survase & Atmajitsinh Gohil, 2024. "Empowering Self-Help Groups: The Impact of Financial Inclusion on Social Well-Being," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 17(6), pages 1-17, May.
    5. Jimmy Ebong & Babu George, 2021. "Financial Inclusion through Digital Financial Services (DFS): A Study in Uganda," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-18, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eme:ijsepp:ijse-05-2019-0310. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Emerald Support (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.