Equitable sociotechnical reconfiguration: A model for analyzing the microfundations of socioenvironmental Fintechs

Despite widespread expectations regarding the potential contribution of fintechs to financial inclusion and to environmental and socioeconomic development, few studies have examined the microfoundations that guide how these organizations pursue such missions in practice. This article seeks to address this gap by investigating how socioenvironmental fintechs structure their services to support the causes and social groups they serve. Adopting the Design Science Research methodology, we propose a theoretical model that integrates the concepts of sociotechnical reconfiguration, equitable resilience, affordances, and sensemaking to describe how fintechs appropriate technology to realize their socioenvironmental objectives and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. The theoretical model was subsequently applied to the analysis of ten empirical cases of Brazilian fintechs. The findings reveal that financial services are being reconfigured through practices anchored in – and shaped by – the perspectives of the social groups involved, leading to the creation of digital solutions that address their specific needs and foster change in the status quo. The article thus contributes to ongoing debates on fintechs and technology-mediated socioenvironmental transformation, while also offering a theoretical model for operationalizing future research through a sociotechnical lens, thereby expanding this approach within the field of Organizations and Information Systems studies.