Title: Evaluating the mediating relationship of social inclusion between digital financial inclusion services, and MSE development in Malaysia

Authors: Muhammad Farhan Jalil

Addresses: School of Business and Management, University of Technology Sarawak, 1, Jalan University, 96000 Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia

Abstract: Malaysia's primary development policy agendas include the digitalisation of financial inclusion, social inclusion, and the considerable development of small businesses, although the relationship between them has received relatively little attention in the policy and scholarly literature. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to determine the impact of digital financial inclusion services in promoting micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in Malaysia. Moreover, this study also aims to investigate the mediating effect of social inclusion in relationships. The study was cross-sectional using structured questionnaires and data were collected from 531 MSEs drawn from five different states in Malaysia. Moreover, statistical analysis of the data was done using AMOS-21. The results generated from the research revealed that digital financial inclusion services significantly and positively create impact the development of MSEs in Malaysia, and social inclusion complimentary partially mediates the relationship.

Keywords: financial inclusion; digital financial services; social inclusion; micro and small enterprises; MSE; structural equation modelling; SEM.

DOI: 10.1504/AJMSA.2022.131524

Asian Journal of Management Science and Applications, 2022 Vol.7 No.2, pp.103 - 122

Received: 10 Jun 2022
Accepted: 31 Aug 2022
Published online: 16 Jun 2023 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article