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Moving away from Trading on the Margins: Economic Empowerment of Informal Businesses through FinTech

Moving away from Trading on the Margins: Economic Empowerment of Informal Businesses through FinTech
Moving away from Trading on the Margins: Economic Empowerment of Informal Businesses through FinTech
While there have been increasing studies on the impact of financial technology (FinTech), limited research has explored how FinTech supports economic empowerment for informal businesses. Drawing on institutional logics and a case study of mobile money—a FinTech innovation—this study develops a model of mobile money-driven economic empowerment. We argue that this model is important to explain how those at the bottom of the economic pyramid, who are often neglected, use FinTech innovations to create and run informal businesses. Our findings and model explain the dynamics between logics, actors, and mobile money at three levels: regulatory, payments infrastructure, and informal economy. We identify three corresponding effects as outcomes of economic empowerment for informal businesses: greater access to start-up capital, new employment opportunities, and improved financial management. By illustrating these effects, our study contributes to a better understanding of how FinTech innovations offer a possible pathway to economic empowerment for informal businesses.
Economic Empowerment, FinTech, ICT4D, Informal Businesses, Institutional Logics, Mobile Money, Sustainable development goals (SDGs)
1365-2575
154-184
Senyo, PK
b2150f66-8ef9-48f7-af32-3b055d4fa691
Gozman, Daniel
5517bbe0-d392-4cb4-a618-b8564f90d9ff
Karanasios, Stan
96476a07-d562-4e8f-9404-74500427a28b
Dacre, Nicholas
90ea8d3e-d0b1-4a5a-bead-f95ab32afbd1
Baba, Melissa
5728afd8-039e-434d-b74e-ee371270d052
Senyo, PK
b2150f66-8ef9-48f7-af32-3b055d4fa691
Gozman, Daniel
5517bbe0-d392-4cb4-a618-b8564f90d9ff
Karanasios, Stan
96476a07-d562-4e8f-9404-74500427a28b
Dacre, Nicholas
90ea8d3e-d0b1-4a5a-bead-f95ab32afbd1
Baba, Melissa
5728afd8-039e-434d-b74e-ee371270d052

Senyo, PK, Gozman, Daniel, Karanasios, Stan, Dacre, Nicholas and Baba, Melissa (2023) Moving away from Trading on the Margins: Economic Empowerment of Informal Businesses through FinTech. Information Systems Journal, 33 (1), 154-184. (doi:10.1111/isj.12403).

Record type: Article

Abstract

While there have been increasing studies on the impact of financial technology (FinTech), limited research has explored how FinTech supports economic empowerment for informal businesses. Drawing on institutional logics and a case study of mobile money—a FinTech innovation—this study develops a model of mobile money-driven economic empowerment. We argue that this model is important to explain how those at the bottom of the economic pyramid, who are often neglected, use FinTech innovations to create and run informal businesses. Our findings and model explain the dynamics between logics, actors, and mobile money at three levels: regulatory, payments infrastructure, and informal economy. We identify three corresponding effects as outcomes of economic empowerment for informal businesses: greater access to start-up capital, new employment opportunities, and improved financial management. By illustrating these effects, our study contributes to a better understanding of how FinTech innovations offer a possible pathway to economic empowerment for informal businesses.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 29 June 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 18 July 2022
Published date: January 2023
Additional Information: Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors. Information Systems Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Keywords: Economic Empowerment, FinTech, ICT4D, Informal Businesses, Institutional Logics, Mobile Money, Sustainable development goals (SDGs)

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 468141
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/468141
ISSN: 1365-2575
PURE UUID: 0577d2cc-9906-4a75-8e4d-cfbf3ff2d5dc
ORCID for PK Senyo: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7126-3826

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Date deposited: 03 Aug 2022 17:00
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 04:01

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Contributors

Author: PK Senyo ORCID iD
Author: Daniel Gozman
Author: Stan Karanasios
Author: Nicholas Dacre
Author: Melissa Baba

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