Quality financial inclusion and its determinants in South Africa: evidence from survey data

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kudakwashe Joshua Chipunza ◽  
Ashenafi Fanta
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Survey Data ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Financial Inclusion ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Demographic Groups ◽  
Financial Products ◽  
Data Limitations

PurposeThe study measured quality financial inclusion, a more comprehensive measure of financial inclusion, and examined its determinants at a consumer level in South Africa.Design/methodology/approachThis study leveraged on FinScope 2015 survey data to compute a quality financial inclusion index using polychoric principal component analysis. Subsequently, a heteroscedasticity consistent ordinary least squares regression model was employed to assess determinants of quality financial inclusion.FindingsThe empirical findings indicated that gender, education, financial literacy, income, location and geographical proximity determine quality financial inclusion. These findings could inform policymakers and financial services providers on how quality financial inclusion can be promoted through tailoring financial products for various socio-demographic groups.Research limitations/implicationsDue to data limitations, the study was confined to South Africa and did not capture digital financial inclusion. Hence, future studies could replicate the study in Sub-Saharan Africa's context and compute an index that captures digital financial inclusion.Practical implicationsThese findings could inform policymakers and financial services providers on how quality financial inclusion can be promoted through tailoring financial products for various socio-demographic groups.Originality/valueThis study proposed a more comprehensive measure of quality financial inclusion from a demand-side perspective by accounting for important dimensions that include diversity, affordability, appropriateness and flexibility of financial products and services.

Product diversification, business structure, and firm performance in Taiwanese property and liability insurance sector

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 486-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen-Ying Lee
Keyword(s):  
Firm Performance ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Product Diversification ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Fixed Effects Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Business Structure

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyze product diversification, business structure and insurer performance with a comprehensive look at the property-liability (P/L) insurance operations. Design/methodology/approach Using a panel data, this study employs an ordinary least squares regression model, fixed effects model and random effects model to examine the impact of product diversification and business structure on the performance of P/L insurers. The study assesses insurer performance using both risk-adjusted return on assets and risk-adjusted return on equity. Findings The study finds that product diversification is significantly negatively related to the performance of P/L insurers. The results are consistent with the diversification discount theory. The empirical results reveal that business lines have significant impacts on firm performance, particularly on the lines of fire and marine insurances. Furthermore, the interaction between product diversification and firm size implies that product diversification significantly increases the performance of large-sized insurance firms. Originality/value The study provides some valuable insights into the effects of diversification and business structure on the performance of P/L insurers in a developing country. The study’s findings suggest that management of P/L insurers should clarify their objectives and carefully assess the company’s resources when dealing with product diversification and business structure. The results have practical implications for the financial services industry in Taiwan.

Improving productivity among smallholder farmers in Ghana: does financial inclusion matter?

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Atta Peprah ◽  
Isaac Koomson ◽  
Joshua Sebu ◽  
Bukari Chei
Keyword(s):  
Financial Services ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Agricultural Productivity ◽  
Financial Inclusion ◽  
Living Standard ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Access To Credit ◽  
Pooled Data ◽  
Financial Products ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeDoes financial inclusion matter for productivity among smallholder farmers? The authors answer this question by using the sixth and seventh rounds of the Ghana Living Standard Survey to examine the extent to which financial inclusion affects productivity among smallholder farmers in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a pooled data of the 6th and 7th rounds of the Ghana Living Standard Survey which are national representative data. The authors model an Instrumental Variable (IV) to correct for endogeneity in financial inclusion and a dominance analysis to examine the effects of access to credit, ownership of savings account and insurance product on farmers' productivity.FindingsResults from the study indicate that financial inclusion significantly enhances productivity. Moreover, credit, savings and insurance products influence productivity at various degrees. Thus, expanding the scope of financial services (access to credit, savings and insurance) among smallholder farmers is crucial for inclusive finance and sustainable agricultural production.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study have implications for financial institutions in the design of financial products that the meet the needs of smallholder farmers.Originality/valueSeveral studies have looked at how access to credit influences agricultural productivity in Africa. However, in recent times financial inclusion has been advocated for because it goes beyond mere access to credit. This paper to the best of our knowledge is the first of its kind to examine how financial inclusion could affect agricultural productivity in Ghana.

scholarly journals Lack of Informations about COVID-19 Vaccine: From Implications to Intervention for Supporting Public Health Communications in COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 6141
Author(s):  
Silva Guljaš ◽  
Zvonimir Bosnić ◽  
Tamer Salha ◽  
Monika Berecki ◽  
Zdravka Krivdić Dupan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vaccine Efficacy ◽  
Health Belief ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Equal Proportion ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Demographic Groups ◽  
Population Immunity ◽  
Wide Range

Lack of knowledge and mistrust towards vaccines represent a challenge in achieving the vaccination coverage required for population immunity. The aim of this study is to examine the opinion that specific demographic groups have about COVID-19 vaccination, in order to detect potential fears and reasons for negative attitudes towards vaccination, and to gain knowledge on how to prepare strategies to eliminate possible misinformation that could affect vaccine hesitancy. The data collection approach was based on online questionnaire surveys, divided into three groups of questions that followed the main postulates of the health belief theory—a theory that helps understanding a behaviour of the public in some concrete surrounding in receiving preventive measures. Ordinary least squares regression analyses were used to examine the influence of individual factors on refusing the vaccine, and to provide information on the perception of participants on the danger of COVID-19 infection, and on potential barriers that could retard the vaccine utility. There was an equal proportion of participants (total number 276) who planned on receiving the COVID-19 vaccine (37%), and of those who did not (36.3%). The rest (26.7%) of participants were still indecisive. Our results indicated that attitudes on whether to receive the vaccine, on how serious consequences might be if getting the infection, as well as a suspicious towards the vaccine efficacy and the fear of the vaccine potential side effects, may depend on participants’ age (<40 vs. >40 years) and on whether they are healthcare workers or not. The barriers that make participants‘ unsure about of receiving the vaccine, such as a distrust in the vaccine efficacy and safety, may vary in different socio-demographic groups and depending on which is the point of time in the course of the pandemic development, as well as on the vaccine availability and experience in using certain vaccine formulas. There is a pressing need for health services to continuously provide information to the general population, and to address the root causes of mistrust through improved communication, using a wide range of policies, interventions and technologies.

The impact of executives’ perceptions of environmental threats and organizational slack on innovation strategies

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chengyuan Wang ◽  
Biao Luo ◽  
Yong Liu ◽  
Zhengyun Wei
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Organizational Slack ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Environmental Threats ◽  
Innovation Strategies ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose The paper aims to study the relationship between executives’ perceptions of environmental threats and innovation strategies and investigate the moderating effect of contextual factor (i.e. organizational slack) on such relations. It proposes a dualistic relationship between executives’ perceptions of environmental threats and innovation strategies, in which different perceptions of environmental threats will lead to corresponding innovation strategies, and dyadic organizational slack can promote such processes. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a survey with 163 valid questionnaires, which were all completed by executives. Hierarchical ordinary least-squares regression analysis is used to test the hypotheses proposed in this paper. Findings The paper provides empirical insights about that executives tend to choose exploratory innovation when they perceive environmental changes as likely loss threats, yet adopt exploitative innovation when perceiving control-reducing threats. Furthermore, unabsorbed slack (e.g. financial redundancy) positively moderates both relationships, while absorbed slack (e.g. operational redundancy) merely positively influences the relationship between the perception of control-reducing threats and exploitative innovation. Originality/value The paper bridges the gap between organizational innovation and cognitive theory by proposing a dualistic relationship between executives’ perceptions of environmental threats and innovation strategies. The paper further enriches innovation studies by jointly considering both subjective and objective influence factors of innovation and argues that organizational slack can moderate such dualistic relationship.

Estimating defaults in organized security lending markets

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 343-362
Author(s):  
Latif Cem Osken ◽  
Ceylan Onay ◽  
Gözde Unal
Keyword(s):  
Credit Risk ◽  
Stock Returns ◽  
Stock Price ◽  
Price Volatility ◽  
Equity Market ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Central Counterparties ◽  
Risk Determinants

Purpose This paper aims to analyze the dynamics of the security lending process and lending markets to identify the market-wide variables reflecting the characteristics of the stock borrowed and to measure the credit risk arising from lending contracts. Design/methodology/approach Using the data provided by Istanbul Settlement and Custody Bank on the equity lending contracts of Securities Lending and Borrowing Market between 2010 and 2012 and the data provided by Borsa Istanbul on Equity Market transactions for the same timeframe, this paper analyzes whether stock price volatility, stock returns, return per unit amount of risk and relative liquidity of lending market and equity market affect the defaults of lending contracts by using both linear regression and ordinary least squares regression for robustness and proxying the concepts of relative liquidity, volatility and return constructs by more than variable to correlate findings. Findings The results illustrate a statistically significant relationship between volatility and the default state of the lending contracts but fail to establish a connection between default states and stock returns or relative liquidity of markets. Research limitations/implications With the increasing pressure for clearing security lending contracts in central counterparties, it is imperative for both central counterparties and regulators to be able to precisely measure the risk exposure due to security lending transactions. The results gained from a limited set of lending transactions merit further studies to identify non-borrower and non-systemic credit risk determinants. Originality/value This is the first study to analyze the non-borrower and non-systemic credit risk determinants in security lending markets.

Personality, risk tolerance and social network use: an exploratory study

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 536-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaista Wasiuzzaman ◽  
Siavash Edalat
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Online Social Networks ◽  
Financial Risk ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Risk Tolerance ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Financial Risk Tolerance

Purpose – The vast amount of information available via online social networks (OSN) makes it a very good avenue for understanding human behavior. One of the human characteristics of interest to financial practitioners is an individual’s financial risk tolerance. The purpose of this paper is to look at the relationship between an individual’s OSN behavior and his/her financial risk tolerance. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses data collected from a sample of 220 university students and the backward variables selection ordinary least squares regression analysis technique to achieve its objective. Findings – The results of the study find that the frequency of logging on to social network sites indicates an individual who has higher financial risk tolerance. Additionally, the increasing use of social networks for social connection is found to be associated with lower financial risk tolerance. The results are mostly consistent when the sample is split based on prior financial knowledge. Originality/value – To the authors’ knowledge this is the first study which documents the possibility of understanding an individual’s financial risk tolerance via his/her social network activity. This provides investment/financial consultants with more avenues for gathering information in order to understand their current or potential clients hence providing better services.

Audit committee characteristics and the moderating effect of Malaysian code of corporate governance on IPO liquidity

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amal Mohammed Al-Masawa ◽  
Rasidah Mohd-Rashid ◽  
Hamdan Amer Al-Jaifi ◽  
Shaker Dahan Al-Duais
Keyword(s):  
Corporate Governance ◽  
Initial Public Offerings ◽  
Audit Committee ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Moderating Effect ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Code Of Corporate Governance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose This study aims to investigate the link between audit committee characteristics and the liquidity of initial public offerings (IPOs) in Malaysia, which is an emerging economy in Southeast Asia. Another purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of the revised Malaysian code of corporate governance (MCCG) on the link between audit committee characteristics and IPO liquidity. Design/methodology/approach The final sample consists of 304 Malaysian IPOs listed in 2002–2017. This study uses ordinary least squares regression method to analyse the data. To confirm this study’s findings, a hierarchical or four-stage regression analysis is used to compare the t-values of the main and moderate regression models. Findings The findings show that audit committee characteristics (size and director independence) have a positive and significant relationship with IPO liquidity. Also, the revised MCCG positively moderates the relationship between audit committee characteristics and IPO liquidity. Research limitations/implications This study’s findings indicate that companies with higher audit committee independence have a more effective monitoring mechanism that mitigates information asymmetry, thus reducing adverse selection issues during share trading. Practical implications Policymakers could use the results of this study in developing policies for IPO liquidity improvements. Additionally, the findings are useful for traders and investors in their investment decision-making. For companies, the findings highlight the crucial role of the audit committee as part of the control system that monitors corporate governance. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this work is a pioneering study in the context of a developing country, specifically Malaysia that investigates the impact of audit committee characteristics on IPO liquidity. Previously, the link between corporate governance and IPO liquidity had not been investigated in Malaysia. This study also contributes to the IPO literature by providing empirical evidence regarding the moderating effect of the revised MCCG on the relationship between audit committee characteristics and IPO liquidity.

scholarly journals Empowering Women through Financial Inclusion in Zimbabwe Is the Gender Gap Not Encroaching This Noble Cause?

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-64
Author(s):  
Lettiah Gumbo ◽  
Precious Dube ◽  
Muhammad Ridwan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Gender Gap ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
National Development ◽  
Financial Inclusion ◽  
Financial Products ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
The Government ◽  
Financial Awareness

One of the most effective catalysts of economic growth of any nation is obviously financial inclusion. However, in developing countries such as Zimbabwe gender gap is still an impediment to the achievement of financial inclusion for all. Research findings for this paper show that, increasing women’s financial opportunities and financial awareness on how to access financial products and services will go a long way in reducing the gender gap. Furthermore, increasing access to and use of quality financial products and services is essential to inclusive economic growth and poverty reduction. Although the government of Zimbabwe is taking steps to increase women financial inclusiveness, research shows that women in Zimbabwe trail behind men in as far as access to financial services is concerned. Zimbabwean communities remain dominantly patriarchal and women are always lagging behind in developmental projects meant for their empowerment. This paper seeks to assess the implementation of women’s financial inclusion highlighting opportunities and barriers such as the gender gap and how this may be overcome. The study is qualitative in nature and therefore makes use of interviews and questionnaires for data collection. It is envisioned by the researchers that the research findings will be beneficial to women; their empowerment and development and national development. It is hoped to change the way in which the banking and financial sectors deal with women’s financial inclusion for the betterment of their livelihoods.  Furthermore, women’s financial empowerment will improve livelihoods of many families given the caring nature of mothers, sisters, aunts and grandmothers.

The determinants of internet risk disclosure: empirical study of Egyptian listed companies

2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (8) ◽  
pp. 746-767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Khalil ◽  
Mona Maghraby
Keyword(s):  
Listed Companies ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Risk Information ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Risk Disclosure ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Board Characteristics ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the existing disclosure literature by examining the determinants of corporate risk disclosure (CRD) in the internet reporting for a sample of Egyptian listed companies on the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX). Design/methodology/approach This study depends on a sample of 76 Egyptian companies included in the EGX 100 in the period 2012-2014. The study applies a content analysis and uses a sentence-based method to measure CRD in the internet reporting. Ordinary least-squares regression analysis is used to examine the impact of firm and board characteristics on CRD in the internet reporting. Findings The empirical analysis shows that large Egyptian companies tend to disclose more risk information in their internet reporting. Moreover, the results indicate that there is a significant positive association between sector type and CRD in the internet reporting. The results show non-significant association between CRD and other firm characteristics (cross listing and level of risk). Finally, there are no significant associations between CRD and board characteristics variables (board size, board composition and CEO duality). Research limitations/implications The study’s findings have practical implications. It aids in informing policy makers considering implementing new economic reform programs about the properties of Egyptian companies that disclose risk information in their internet reporting. It provides insights on CRD in Egyptian companies for standards setters and professional authorities to improve risk reporting practices to help stakeholders in making good decisions. Originality/value This study is one of the first studies to examine the determinants of CRD in the internet reporting for a sample of Egyptian companies.

The role of customer experience touchpoints in driving loyalty intentions in services

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 444-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Ieva ◽  
Cristina Ziliani
Keyword(s):  
Customer Loyalty ◽  
Service Sector ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Customer Experience ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Mobile Service ◽  
Least Squares Regression ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Loyalty Intentions

Purpose The explosion in the number of touchpoints is putting pressure on companies to design omnichannel customer experiences aimed at achieving long-term customer loyalty. The purpose of this paper is to examine the relative importance of 24 touchpoints in contributing to customer loyalty intentions. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected by means of a survey on almost 6,000 subjects belonging to the Nielsen consumer panel. Two ordinary least squares regression models with clustered standard errors estimate the relationship between touchpoint exposure – measured in terms of reach, frequency and positivity – and customer loyalty intentions in the mobile service sector. Findings Reach has a significant relationship with customer loyalty intentions as far as eight touchpoints are concerned. Positivity, when controlling for frequency of exposure, is related to customer loyalty intentions as far as nine touchpoints are concerned. Practical implications Results provide guidance for mobile service providers on customer experience management strategies and specifically on touchpoint prioritization, adaptation, monitoring and design. Originality/value This study addresses two relevant research gaps. First, most studies focus on single or a few touchpoints without considering the variety of touchpoints within the customer journey (Lemon and Verhoef, 2016). Second, no studies focus on the relative contribution of touchpoints to customer loyalty intentions (Homburg et al., 2017).

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document