IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v41y2013icp145-156.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effects of Religion on Development Efforts: Evidence from the Microfinance Industry and a Research Agenda

Author

Listed:
  • Mersland, Roy
  • D’Espallier, Bert
  • Supphellen, Magne

Abstract

This study responds to the need for more empirical knowledge pertaining to the effect of religion on development efforts. We use data from the microfinance industry to study performance differences between Christian and secular Microfinance Institutions (MFIs). We find that Christian MFIs have significantly lower funding costs and consistently underperform in terms of financial profit indicators. Contrary to our hypotheses Christian MFIs are as efficient in assuring loan repayment and their average loan sizes are on par with those of their secular peers.

Suggested Citation

  • Mersland, Roy & D’Espallier, Bert & Supphellen, Magne, 2013. "The Effects of Religion on Development Efforts: Evidence from the Microfinance Industry and a Research Agenda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 145-156.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:41:y:2013:i:c:p:145-156
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2012.05.030
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X12001520
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2012.05.030?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mersland, Roy & Randøy, Trond & Strøm, Reidar Øystein, 2011. "The impact of international influence on microbanks’ performance: A global survey," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 20(2), pages 163-176.
    2. Mersland, Roy, 2009. "The Cost of Ownership in Microfinance Organizations," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 469-478, February.
    3. Mersland, Roy & Strøm, R. Øystein, 2010. "Microfinance Mission Drift?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 28-36, January.
    4. Koch, Dirk-Jan & Dreher, Axel & Nunnenkamp, Peter & Thiele, Rainer, 2009. "Keeping a Low Profile: What Determines the Allocation of Aid by Non-Governmental Organizations?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 902-918, May.
    5. Jonathan Morduch, 1999. "The Microfinance Promise," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 37(4), pages 1569-1614, December.
    6. Robert Cull & Asli Demirguç-Kunt & Jonathan Morduch, 2007. "Financial performance and outreach: a global analysis of leading microbanks," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(517), pages 107-133, February.
    7. Laurence R. Iannaccone, 1998. "Corrigenda [Introduction to the Economics of Religion]," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(4), pages 1941-1941, December.
    8. Hermes, Niels & Lensink, Robert & Meesters, Aljar, 2011. "Outreach and Efficiency of Microfinance Institutions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 938-948, June.
    9. Xavier Reille & Jasmina Glisovic-Mezieres & Yannis Berthouzoz & Damian Milverton, 2009. "MIV Performance and Prospects : Highlights from the CGAP 2009 MIV Benchmark Survey," World Bank Publications - Reports 9490, The World Bank Group.
    10. D’Espallier, Bert & Guérin, Isabelle & Mersland, Roy, 2011. "Women and Repayment in Microfinance: A Global Analysis," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 39(5), pages 758-772.
    11. Katherine Marshall & Lucy Keough, 2004. "Mind, Heart and Soul in the Fight Against Poverty," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 14927.
    12. Robert Emmons & Chi Cheung & Keivan Tehrani, 1998. "Assessing Spirituality Through Personal Goals: Implications for Research on Religion and Subjective Well-Being," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 391-422, November.
    13. Roy Mersland & Reidar Øystein Strøm, 2008. "Performance and trade-offs in Microfinance Organisations-does ownership matter?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(5), pages 598-612.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Beisland, Leif Atle & Mersland, Roy & Randøy, Trond, 2014. "The Association between microfinance rating scores and corporate governance: a global survey," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 35, pages 268-280.
    2. Gutiérrez-Nieto, Begoña & Serrano-Cinca, Carlos, 2019. "20 years of research in microfinance: An information management approach," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 183-197.
    3. Niels Hermes & Marek Hudon, 2018. "Determinants Of The Performance Of Microfinance Institutions: A Systematic Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(5), pages 1483-1513, December.
    4. Bos, Jaap W.B. & Millone, Matteo, 2015. "Practice What You Preach: Microfinance Business Models and Operational Efficiency," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 28-42.
    5. Sagamba, MoÏse & Shchetinin, Oleg & Yusupov, Nurmukhammad, 2013. "Do Microloan Officers Want to Lend to the Less Advantaged? Evidence from a Choice Experiment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 182-198.
    6. Kwame Ohene Djan & Roy Mersland, 2022. "Are NGOs and cooperatives similar or different? A global survey using microfinance data," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 26(2), pages 641-683, June.
    7. A. Blanco-Oliver & A. Irimia-Diéguez, 2021. "Impact of outreach on financial performance of microfinance institutions: a moderated mediation model of productivity, loan portfolio quality, and profit status," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 633-668, April.
    8. Eline Auwera & Bert D’Espallier & Roy Mersland, 2024. "Achieving Double Bottom-Line Performance in Hybrid Organisations: A Machine-Learning Approach," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 190(3), pages 625-647, March.
    9. Hermes, Cornelis & Hudon, M., 2018. "Determinants of the Performance of Microfinance Institutions: A Systematic Review," Research Report 2018008, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    10. D’Espallier, Bert & Goedecke, Jann & Hudon, Marek & Mersland, Roy, 2017. "From NGOs to Banks: Does Institutional Transformation Alter the Business Model of Microfinance Institutions?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 89, pages 19-33.
    11. Widiarto, Indra & Emrouznejad, Ali, 2015. "Social and financial efficiency of Islamic microfinance institutions: A Data Envelopment Analysis application," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 1-17.
    12. D'Espallier, Bert & Guerin, Isabelle & Mersland, Roy, 2013. "Focus on Women in Microfinance Institutions," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 49(5), pages 589-608.
    13. Brière, Marie & Szafarz, Ariane, 2015. "Does Commercial Microfinance Belong to the Financial Sector? Lessons from the Stock Market," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 110-125.
    14. Liñares-Zegarra, José & Wilson, John O.S., 2018. "The size and growth of microfinance institutions," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 199-213.
    15. Golesorkhi, Sougand & Mersland, Roy & Piekkari, Rebecca & Pishchulov, Grigory & Randøy, Trond, 2019. "The effect of language use on the financial performance of microfinance banks: Evidence from cross-border activities in 74 countries," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 213-229.
    16. Dorfleitner, Gregor & Röhe, Michaela & Renier, Noémie, 2017. "The access of microfinance institutions to debt capital: An empirical investigation of microfinance investment vehicles," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 1-15.
    17. Rients Galema & Robert Lensink & Roy Mersland, 2012. "Governance and Microfinance Institutions," Chapters, in: James R. Barth & Chen Lin & Clas Wihlborg (ed.), Research Handbook on International Banking and Governance, chapter 29, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Brown, Martin & Guin, Benjamin & Kirschenmann, Karolin, 2012. "Microfinance Commercialization and Mission Drift," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 66(4), pages 340-357.
    19. Leif Atle Beisland & Kwame Ohene Djan & Roy Mersland & Trond Randøy, 2021. "Measuring Social Performance in Social Enterprises: A Global Study of Microfinance Institutions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 51-71, June.
    20. Namrata Gupta & Anita Mirchandani, 2020. "Corporate governance and performance of microfinance institutions: recent global evidences," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 24(2), pages 307-326, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:41:y:2013:i:c:p:145-156. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.