scholarly journals Determinants of micro-finance repayment performance: a study of South African MFIs

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 584-603
Author(s):  
Jonathan Muchnick ◽  
Umakrishnan Kollamparambil

This empirical article looks at the determinants of joint-liability lending repayment performance among the two largest microfinance group-lending organisations in South Africa. Most empirical work on repayment performance does not focus on the characteristics of group-based lending methodologies. This study is an attempt to fill this gap in South African microfinance literature. The results of the logit analysis uncover interesting findings. The study uses the Poverty Wealth Ranking score variable to show the ability of individuals with little or no collateral to be good borrowers. Smaller loan sizes are found to perform better than larger loans. An important contribution of the article is analysing the impact of group homogeneity on repayment performance. It was found that large group sizes and groups made up of male and female (as opposed to groups with only females) can have a negative impact on repayment performance. The findings also indicate that the more homogeneous a group in industry type the better the repayment performance.

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 666 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Osorio-Gallego ◽  
John Londoño-Metaute ◽  
Esteban López-Zapata

Purpose: The objective of this article is to analyze the factors that influence the adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by SMEs in Colombia.Design/methodology: To prove empirically these hypotheses, we administered a questionnaire to a sample of 474 SMEs in Colombia regarding the adoption of ICT and independent variables identified in the literature. Then, we conducted a series of multiple regression models using the data we obtained.Findings: We developed a model that identifies a positive relation between new business opportunities that ICT offer and their adoption level. Likewise, this research identified that a lack of confidence in ICT's security and privacy, a perception of ICT cost-benefit unbalance have a negative impact on the implementation of these technologies.Research limitations/implications: This study has limitations that are inherent to cross-sectional research. These restrict the possibility of conducting dynamic analysis between independent and dependent variables. Likewise, the generalization of results is circumscribed to a geographical context and the type of enterprises surveyed.Practical implications: The results of this research provide valuable contributions to decision-making by SMEs' directors and to public policies that foster the implementation of ICT in SMEs based on an analysis of benefits and barriers found in this study.Originality/value: In view of a lack of empirical work that analyzes the implementation of technology in enterprises in emerging countries, this study provides a valuable contribution to the creation of knowledge when attempting to explain the implementation of ICT using a representative sample of SMEs in Colombia identifying the quantitative form of the impact of the benefits and barriers of these technologies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerhardus Van Zyl

Orientation: This article is part of an ongoing research project on various aspects of employee productivity in the South African workplace.Research purpose: The aim of this article is to determine firm-based employee productivity impacts as a result of employee remuneration inequalities (excess-remuneration and under-remuneration) in the South African workplace.Motivation for the study: The study focuses on understanding the impact and magnitude of employee remuneration inequalities on employee productivity in a unionised South African workplace.Research design: The article adopts two distinct estimation models. The aim of the additive multivariate linear estimation model is to determine the sign and the significance of the impact of both under- and excess-remuneration levels on employee productivity when employee characteristics such as levels of training, work experience and managerial involvement are considered. The second model is a fixed-effect panel data estimation where the full sample set of the relevant firm-based data is used. The aim of the panel data estimations is to estimate the robustness of the additive multivariate linear estimates. The manufacturing industry of Gauteng has been chosen as the case study, given the importance of this industry, in the gross geographical product of Gauteng province and the availability of firm-based data.Main findings: Estimation results indicate a strong and significant negative impact of under-remuneration on employee productivity levels. Excess-remuneration levels have a small positive impact on employee productivity levels.Practical/managerial implications: The estimations indicate the necessity to eliminate remuneration inequalities and opt for equalised remuneration structures for similar occupations in the market to enhance employee productivity levels.Contribution/value-added: The study contributes to our understanding of the impact of remuneration inequalities for similar occupations on employee productivity.


Author(s):  
Robert Lensink ◽  
Erwin Bulte

By surveying the latest literature, this chapter aims to contribute to the recent discussion on the successes and failures of microfinance. We argue that the question “does microfinance work?” is neither important nor informative. What matters is knowing when, and in which conditions, microfinance works—and for whom. We claim that the answers to these questions depend on the details of the microcredit contract as well as on the range of services that microfinance institutions provide (including non-financial ones). We point at two important reasons why the impact of several microcredit programs is lower than expected: (1) the rigidness of credit contracts, and (2) the human capital of end-users. As reforming contract terms and building human capital via business training and technical assistance are costly, we argue that perhaps subsidies are needed. We focus on studies dealing with end-users, and pay specific attention to the evolving discussion on group lending and the role of joint liability to reduce asymmetric information problems and improve repayment rates. We also discuss the literature focusing on the recent shift of several microfinance institutions to individual lending, and the related trend toward commercialization of microfinance.


2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-56
Author(s):  
Thuli Ngonyama ◽  
Shaun Ruggunan

The aim of the study was twofold. Firstly it investigated the relationship between worker participation and job satisfaction amongst academic staff and administrative staff at a South African university. Secondly it investigated if there is a statistically significant difference between worker participation levels of academic and non-academic staff. Most empirical work on worker participation has focused on workers in the industrial and manufacturing sectors of the economy, with limited focus on worker participation in the services sector. This study aims to address this gap through this exploratory study of the impact of worker participation on job satisfaction at a South African University.


10.28945/3249 ◽  
2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahendrenath Motah

The applications of the Information, Education and Communication approaches to all sectors have brought unexpected changes in the attitudes and behaviours of people of all ages. The overwhelming amount of theoretical and empirical work done regarding the impact of ICT on educational processes has highlighted the benefits of ICT to students, teachers, and parents. Mauritius is faced with a double dilemma: the positive value of information technologies, on the one hand, and the potentialities and possibilities of the negative impact on the life of people on the other. This paper aims to gauge the impact of the ICT, IEC and IT on the Mauritian population confronted with the issues related to the access to information through the technological advances the world has been exposed to. It is also to draw the attention of policy-makers of the need to consider the “digital opportunity” and its influence on the Mauritian population.


2021 ◽  
pp. 097300522110495
Author(s):  
Putu Yani Pratiwi

Research on agriculture crowdfunding in developing countries is still limited. The crowdfunding platform offers uncollateralised loans to farmers. Therefore, they apply joint liability group lending to lower the default risk. However, from farmer’s point of view, joint liability causes higher risk since every group member bears his/her own risk and that of all other group members. Thus, the purpose of this article is to analyse how joint liability may lower the risk of both farmer and agriculture crowdfunding in Indonesia. A deductive qualitative research design with case study approach is used in this article. A series of in-depth interviews were conducted with one agriculture crowdfunding platform and two farmer groups. Data analysis was conducted by using pattern matching technique. The findings of this article are as follows: joint liability may lower the default risk of crowdfunding platform because the farmer groups are self-selected. The leader of the farmer group plays an important role in monitoring the members, and he may apply social sanction to the defaulting member. By implementing joint liability group lending, crowdfunding platform can provide extension services such as price certainty through contract farming, field agent monitoring and non-cash credit disbursement. These extension services help to lower the farmer’s risk.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahdi Salehi ◽  
Masomeh Mirozadeh ◽  
Mohammad Sadegh Adibian ◽  
Hamideh Nazaridavaji ◽  
Fahimeh Irvani Qale Sorkh

Purpose The current study aims to investigate the relationship between relative performance and change manager in Iran. Design/methodology/approach For this study, the reasons for CEO change and the contributing factors to performance were defined based on the industry type. A systematic elimination approach is applied to select the study sample among listed companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange during 2012–2016. Finally, a 390 firm-year population was tested using multiple regression. Findings The results of hypothesis testing indicate that the possibility of managerial change is less likely after a positive return of the market performance. Moreover, hypothesis testing results reveal that peer firms and specific-firm performance do not contribute to managerial change. The findings also demonstrate that systematic risk has a negative impact on managerial change, whereas unsystematic risks do not significantly play a part in managerial change. Originality/value As the present study is the pioneer study on the impact of managerial change factors on Iranian firms' relative performance, the findings of this study can contribute to the realm of this study and the related literature.


2020 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kasebwe T.L. Kabongo

The author reflects on the reality of nepotism in Christian leadership as he has observed in the township of Soshanguve and many other African poverty-stricken communities he has lived in. The leadership of churches in those areas seems to run in the family. This model tends to have a disempowering effect on the other church members in terms of taking responsibility or initiating projects that could expand the impact of the church beyond the borders of its walls. This article recognises the positive impact of nepotism, but it mostly stresses on the negative impact of nepotism on the democratisation of power in the church and society. It uses music, a critical vehicle of knowledge acquisition in Africa, to stress upon the fact that Christian leaders should be equipped to participate in the common good, help in the empowerment of ordinary people around them, starting with their members and be altruistic, like Jesus, and work beyond the boundaries of their families.


Author(s):  
Elijah Baloyi

Among the crimes in the South African black townships, mob justice has become a growing concern. Some questions that need to be asked are: Is our police force doing enough to protect the ordinary citizens of this country? If the situation continues, will all suspects be killed in the same manner or will there be a solution to change the situation? What is the impact of mob justice on the families of the victims and the witnesses of the brutal acts? How long are we going to live as a traumatised nation as a result of these violent acts? Is there any hope that our nation will ever have the peace it deserves in the context of democracy? This article intends to investigate the impact of the mob justice system and find out what the role of the Christian church should be in the midst of this escalating violence. This study aims to unveil the negative impact of mob justice on the lives of many township South Africans and giving pastoral-biblical suggestions of the church’s role in the elimination of this kind of brutality.


Ekonomika ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 44-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erginbay Uğurlu

Conventional wisdom suggests that openness of an economy promotes economic growth. There is still argument among economists concerning how a country’s macroeconomic variables and its economic growth interact in numerous econometric studies by using panel data. This paper examines the impact of openness on economic growth for the EU-15 area in 1996–2003. In our empirical work, we have used the panel data technique which is also called longitudinal data or cross-sectional time series data. Panel data is generally concerned with choosing among three alternative regressions that are named fixed effects, random effects and pooled model estimation. The variables used are growth, openness, price level, investment and government share of RGDP. We find that openness has had a weak but negative impact on economic growth in this region over this period. Also, we have found that an increase in investment and a decrease in government expenditure have supported economic growth in the EU-15 countries.


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