Examining the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and digital financial service usage among Pakistani SMEs
International Journal of Emerging Markets
ISSN: 1746-8809
Article publication date: 30 November 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This research aimed to find out both direct and mediating relationships between the fear of COVID-19 (FC) and the usage of digital financial services (UDFS) via mediator financial anxiety (FA). It also attempted to ascertain the moderated effect of education of small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners (ESO), i.e. business degree holders (BDH) vs nonbusiness degree holders (NBDH), in the relationship between FC and the UDFS.
Design/methodology/approach
This research employed a simple random sampling technique. In total, 387 complete responses were collected from Pakistani SMEs. The complete analysis was performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) 23, AMOS 24, Process Marco 4.1, and Interaction 1.7.
Findings
According to the findings, FC leads to UDFS and FA mediates this relationship. Additionally, the findings show that the ESO between FC and UDFS was moderated. However, conditional analysis shows that BDH-SME owners strengthened the moderated relationship between FC and UDFS compared to NBDH-SME owners, who did not show any relationship.
Research limitations/implications
Policymakers might use the study's findings to promote business education, which has been recognized as essential for making sound financial decisions. Finally, because the study is cross-sectional, the authors are unable to draw definitive generalizations.
Originality/value
The key novelty of this research work lies in the inclusion of FA as a mediator and the education of SME owners as a moderator in understanding the relationship between FC and the UDFS. This study illuminated the positive aspects of the COVID-19 epidemic based on the theory of emotional finance, risk avoidance theory and theories of emotion.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research work is not funded by any person or organization.
Since submission of this article, the following author(s) have updated their affiliations: Salman Mahmood is Faculty of Economics and Management at Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, China.
Citation
Mahmood, S., Wen, S., Aslam, S., Khan, M.R. and Rehman, F.U. (2023), "Examining the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and digital financial service usage among Pakistani SMEs", International Journal of Emerging Markets, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOEM-10-2022-1528
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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