Solomon Odei-Appiah, Gamel Wiredu and Joseph Kwame Adjei
Financial Technology (FinTech) innovations enable the provision of financial services to many unbanked across the world by increasing access. The key role of FinTech to drive…
Abstract
Purpose
Financial Technology (FinTech) innovations enable the provision of financial services to many unbanked across the world by increasing access. The key role of FinTech to drive financial inclusion however suffers significant impediments including the digital divide. Nevertheless, there is paucity of elaborate theories on financial inclusion while extant literature on FinTech only identify factors that drive its acceptance and use with little attention to inhibitors such as the digital divide. This study aims to investigate the impact of FinTech usage on financial inclusion amid the digital divide.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) and the model of digital inequality. A structural equation modeling technique is applied to data collected from 282 respondents in an online survey.
Findings
The findings confirm a positive influence of FinTech use on financial inclusion as well as the influence of performance expectancy and facilitating conditions on behavioral intentions. The results also show that digital divide measured with access, resource and force moderate the use of FinTech.
Originality/value
This study presents a theoretical model which is unique given that UTAUT2 was combined with digital divide moderators from the model of digital inequality to explain how FinTech usage impacts on financial inclusion. Addressing the research questions has led several theoretical contributions including the extension of the applicability of UTAUT2.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to take an institutional approach to the analysis of organisational‐level challenges of information systems (IS) innovation in public organisations. It seeks to…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to take an institutional approach to the analysis of organisational‐level challenges of information systems (IS) innovation in public organisations. It seeks to answer the question: how can the challenges of IS innovation in public organisations, presented by the interactions between IT and public bureaucracy, be explained and addressed?
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is an empirical study approached with an interpretive philosophy that influenced the gathering of qualitative evidence.
Findings
The analysis reveals the institutional tensions between the low‐entrepreneurial ethos of public organisations and the efficiency principle of information technology (IT).
Practical implications
Public bureaucracy should be adjusted by de‐institutionalising its variable characteristics such as standardised and centralised employee roles and information. Information technology should be adjusted by restraining commitments to and expectations in public organisations.
Originality/value
The paper argues that the primary principle of IS innovation should be institutional adjustments of public bureaucracy and information technology. It informs e‐government policy makers to think primarily about the institutional relations between IT and public bureaucracy.
Details
Keywords
Abdul-Hanan Abdallah, Micheal Ayamga and Joseph A. Awuni
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to determine the factors contributing to farm income in the Transitional and Savanna zones of Ghana and to ascertain variations between in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to determine the factors contributing to farm income in the Transitional and Savanna zones of Ghana and to ascertain variations between in the same and across the two locations; and to determine the impact of credit on farm income in each of the two zones and to ascertain the variation in impact of credit across the two locations.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to address endogeneity and sample selection bias, the authors draw from the theory of impact evaluation in nonrandom experiment, employing the endogenous switching regression (ESR) while using the propensity score matching (PSM) to check for robustness of the results.
Findings
The results show significant mean differences between some characteristics of households that have access to credit and those that did not have access. Further, the results revealed farm size, labor; gender, age, literacy, wealth and group membership as the significant determinants of both credit access and income in the two zones. With the ESR, credit access increases households farm income by GH¢206.56/ha and GH¢39.74/ha in the Transitional and Savanna zones, respectively, but with the PSM, credit increases farm income by GH¢201.50 and GH¢45.69 and in the Transitional and Savanna, respectively.
Research limitations/implications
The mean differences in characteristics of the households revealed the presence of selection bias in the distribution of household’s covariates in the two zones. The results further indicate the importance of productive resources, information and household characteristics in improved access to credit and farm income. Also, the results from both methods indicate that credit access leads to significant gains in farm income for households in both zones. However, differences exist in the results of PSM and that of the ESR results.
Practical implications
The presence of selection bias in the samples suggests that the use of ESR and PSM techniques is appropriate. Further, the results suggesting that enhanced credit access and farm income could be attained through improved access to household resources and information. The results also suggest the need for establishing and expanding credit programs to cover more households in both zones. The differential impact of credit between the two methods employed in each zone revealed the weakness of each model. The low values from PSM could indicate the presence of selection bias resulting from unobservable factors whiles the high values from the ESR could stem from the restrictive assumption of the model. This reinforces the importance of combining mixed methods to check robustness of results and to explore the weakness of each method employed.
Originality/value
The novelty of this study lies in the use of a very extensive and unique data set to decompose the determinants of credit access and farm income and as well as the impacts of credit into zones.