IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijfss/v11y2023i4p151-d1301056.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of Motivational Workshop on Financial Inclusion of Rural People in Bangladesh: Evidence from Randomized Controlled Trial

Author

Listed:
  • Md Monzur Morshed

    (International Economic Development Program, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8529, Japan)

  • Keshav Lall Maharjan

    (International Economic Development Program, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8529, Japan)

Abstract

Despite the expansion of financial institutions and the proliferation of mobile financial services, reaching the unbanked and bringing them under formal financial services has become a policy concern in many developing countries. Due to the lack of financial accounts, unbanked people prefer informal, risky, and inconvenient mechanisms for receiving, sending, and transferring money. Previous studies rely much on common interventions like no account maintenance and opening fees, easy documentation processes, and money subsidies for opening financial accounts. This study aims to examine the impact of the motivational workshop on opening savings accounts through causality among the unbanked people in a setting where the respondents are unbanked despite having all the requirements and many institutional offers to open savings accounts. We encouraged the unbanked people through a one-hour-long motivational workshop to open savings accounts. Based on our cross-sectional data and randomized controlled trial experiment among the 505 unbanked rural people at Dhubil union under Sirajganj in Bangladesh, we have evidence that motivational workshop positively impacts opening accounts by 32.33 percent. However, the account opening rate differs in terms of respondent’s preference for financial institutions. Our study also finds that unbanked people have the highest preference for mobile financial services for opening accounts resulting in 15.33 percent. The result of this study has some policy implications for adopting effective strategies for universal financial access in many developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Md Monzur Morshed & Keshav Lall Maharjan, 2023. "Impact of Motivational Workshop on Financial Inclusion of Rural People in Bangladesh: Evidence from Randomized Controlled Trial," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijfss:v:11:y:2023:i:4:p:151-:d:1301056
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/11/4/151/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/11/4/151/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Leora Klapper & Dorothe Singer & Saniya Ansar & Jake Hess, 2020. "The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and Opportunities to Expand Access to and Use of Financial Services," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 34(Supplemen), pages 2-8.
    2. Luisa R. Blanco & O. Kenrik Duru & Carol M. Mangione, 2020. "A Community-Based Randomized Controlled Trial of an Educational Intervention to Promote Retirement Saving Among Hispanics," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 300-315, June.
    3. repec:eme:hppsss:v:31:y:2015:i:3:p:354-371 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Gitanjali Sen & Sankar De, 2018. "How Much Does Having a Bank Account Help the Poor?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(9), pages 1551-1571, September.
    5. Trang M. T. Phung & Quoc N. Tran & Phuong Nguyen‐Hoang & Nhut H. Nguyen & Tho H. Nguyen, 2023. "The role of learning motivation on financial knowledge among Vietnamese college students," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 529-563, January.
    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. Olayinka David-West & Oluwasola Oni & Folajimi Ashiru, 2022. "Diffusion of Innovations: Mobile Money Utility and Financial Inclusion in Nigeria. Insights from Agents and Unbanked Poor End Users," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(6), pages 1753-1773, December.
    2. Jamil, Abd Rahim Md. & Law, Siong Hook & Mohamad Khair-Afham, M.S. & Trinugroho, Irwan, 2023. "Financial inclusion and economic uncertainty in developing countries: The role of digitalisation," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 786-806.
    3. Mohammad Tariqul Islam Khan, 2022. "Determinants and preferences for a crowdfunding project," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Thomas CHUFFART & Marie-Line DUBOZ & Paipet Corine ZOGBE, 2023. "Microfinance, inclusion financière et inégalités de revenus dans l’UEMOA," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 58, pages 103-121.
    5. Godfred Anakpo & Zizipho Xhate & Syden Mishi, 2023. "The Policies, Practices, and Challenges of Digital Financial Inclusion for Sustainable Development: The Case of the Developing Economy," FinTech, MDPI, vol. 2(2), pages 1-17, June.
    6. Gallego-Losada, Rocío & Montero-Navarro, Antonio & Rodríguez-Sánchez, José-Luis & González-Torres, Thais, 2022. "Retirement planning and financial literacy, at the crossroads. A bibliometric analysis," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    7. Wang, Rui & Luo, Hang (Robin), 2022. "How does financial inclusion affect bank stability in emerging economies?," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(PA).
    8. Huidan Xu & Kun Song & Yichao Li & Martinson Ankrah Twumasi, 2023. "The Relationship between Financial Literacy and Income Structure of Rural Farm Households: Evidence from Jiangsu, China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-15, March.
    9. Zeqiraj, Veton & Sohag, Kazi & Hammoudeh, Shawkat, 2022. "Financial inclusion in developing countries: Do quality institutions matter?," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    10. Olatunji A. Shobande & Simplice A. Asongu, 2021. "Financial Development, Human Capital Development and Climate Change in East and Southern Africa," Working Papers 21/042, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    11. Nkambule, Maxwell Banele, 2022. "The financial inclusion status of rural households in Eswatini," Research Theses 334766, Collaborative Masters Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics.
    12. Mallick, Debdulal & Zhang, Quanda, 2019. "The Effect of Financial Inclusion on Household Welfare in China," MPRA Paper 95786, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Ji Luo & Daniel J. Henderson, 2021. "Minimum Wage Changes across Provinces in China: Average Treatment Effects on Employment and Investment Decisions," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-16, January.
    14. Isaac Koomson & Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Musharavati Ephraim Munyanyi, 2022. "Gambling and Financial Stress," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 473-503, August.
    15. Feghali, Khalil & Mora, Nada & Nassif, Pamela, 2021. "Financial inclusion, bank market structure, and financial stability: International evidence," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 236-257.
    16. Lemnge, Deusdedit Augustine & Raphael, Gwahula, 2023. "Financial Development and Poverty Reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa," African Journal of Economic Review, African Journal of Economic Review, vol. 11(4), September.
    17. Sheri Markose & Thankom Arun & Peterson Ozili, 2022. "Financial inclusion, at what cost? : Quantification of economic viability of a supply side roll out," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 3-29, January.
    18. Agbloyor, Elikplimi & Asongu, Simplice & Muriu, Peter, 2021. "Sustainability, Growth and Impact of MFIs in Africa," MPRA Paper 111752, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Ruibo Jiang & Wenjing Fan, 2022. "Inclusive finance and employment: Can financial development improve peasant's entrepreneurship?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(3), pages 630-646, April.
    20. Favourate Y. Mpofu & David Mhlanga, 2022. "Digital Financial Inclusion, Digital Financial Services Tax and Financial Inclusion in the Fourth Industrial Revolution Era in Africa," Economies, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-22, July.

    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:gam:jijfss:v:11:y:2023:i:4:p:151-:d:1301056. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.