Framing the Digital Shift: Theoretical Lenses and Conceptual Foundations

This chapter describes the concepts and methods that will be used to see how well Bangladesh’s social safety net (SSN) programs work with digital cash transfers. The first step is to put into action three basic ideas: digital cash transfers, social safety nets, and financial inclusion. Then it places these concepts within the broader discussion about digitising welfare. The chapter then goes into greater depth regarding the main things that led to the empirical study. The dependent variables indicate how digital transfers impact how programs run and how people who receive them feel. Factors such as the level of satisfaction among program participants, the program’s efficiency, and the cost of running a business are used to measure them. The independent variables are the structural and environmental elements that affect the outcomes of these activities. These include things like the technology infrastructure, digital skills, government processes, and socioeconomic situations. This chapter makes it clear that digital cash transfers will not work until there is more than simply new technology. It also relies on how strong the institutions are, how much people participate in society, and how good the government is. This framework provides a foundation for the subsequent research chapters. It lets the readers look at how digitisation is changing how help is given and how money is given to disadvantaged populations in Bangladesh.