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Financial performance and social goals of microfinance institutions

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  • Julian Schmied

Abstract

Critics argue that there has been a trend among Microfinance Institutions (MFI) to focus on profitability in order to stay financially sustainable. This made some institutions neglect the social mission of microfinancing. In this paper I intend to examine if empirical evidence supports this so called mission drift hypothesis as well as other claims in this context. Using the global panel data set of the MIX (Microfinance Information Exchange), which gathers from 1995 to 2010 and contains up to 1400 institutions with a high variety of organizational forms, I was able to identify a world-wide mission drift effect in their social goal of reaching out the poorest part of the population. Furthermore, I find that, on average, the outreach of an MFI has a significant negative influence on its short and long term financial performance. Despite that, I eventually proved that the probability that an MFI worsens its social performance substantially increases if its profitability has decreased in the previous years.

Suggested Citation

  • Julian Schmied, 2014. "Financial performance and social goals of microfinance institutions," Potsdam Economic Papers 02, Universität Potsdam, Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Fakultät.
    • Handle: RePEc:pot:pecpap:02
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    Cited by:

    1. Nawaz, Ahmad & Iqbal, Sana, 2015. "Does Social Performance Drives Corporate Governance Mechanism in MFIs? An Issue of Endogeneity," MPRA Paper 65312, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Ahmad Nawaz & Sana Iqbal & Sadaf Ehsan, 2018. "Does Social Performance Drive Corporate Governance Mechanism In Case of Asian MFIs? An Issue of Endogeneity," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 19(4), pages 988-1012, August.
    3. 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

    microfinance institutions; micro loans; mission drift; financial performance; social goals;
    All these keywords.

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