Data Envelopment Analysis in Microfinance Research: A Systematic Review

Numerous studies in the microfinance context have been observed to employ the data envelopment analysis (DEA) technique for the estimation of efficiency and/or productivity at the organizational level. This chapter aims to synthesize the existing DEA literature in the microfinance context to provide an overview of the methodological development over the past two decades and identify future research directions. To this end, literature data spanning the period 2006–2022 have been gathered from the Scopus database, and after filtering them based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 70 research articles relevant to this topic were considered for the study. With respect to methodological development, although most of the studies relied on the classical DEA, a recent trend revealed that studies are also employing various forms of network DEA (NDEA) techniques that integrate complex and multiple stages of the production process to help capture the diverse objectives of microfinance institutions. Furthermore, most studies utilize either regional or global data in their analysis of efficiency/productivity, with only a few exceptions. Lastly, bibliometric processing software (e.g., VOSViewer) is utilized for the identification of influential authors, institutions, networking, and countries. The study identifies important prospects for future research.