IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/123296.html

Digital agency theory of financial inclusion: a theory of digital financial inclusion

Author

Listed:
  • Ozili, Peterson K

Abstract

The objective of this study is to present a theoretical framework that explains the digital agency at work in digital financial inclusion. The digital agency theory of financial inclusion examines the problems and solutions linked to delegating financial inclusion outcomes to a digital agent. The theory also examines the various kinds of incentives and monitoring arrangements that can be deployed by the financial inclusion principal to ensure that the digital agent achieve the specified financial inclusion outcome. The digital agency theory of financial inclusion states that the financial inclusion principal will employ the services of a digital agent who will use appropriate digital technologies to achieve the financial inclusion outcome specified by the financial inclusion principal under a contractual agreement that motivates the digital agent to act in the best interest of the financial inclusion principal. The theory has broad applicability for digital financial inclusion. This study contributes to the emerging theoretical literature on financial inclusion by presenting a digital agency perspective on how to accelerate digital financial inclusion using digital agents.

Suggested Citation

  • Ozili, Peterson K, 2024. "Digital agency theory of financial inclusion: a theory of digital financial inclusion," MPRA Paper 123296, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:123296
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/123296/1/MPRA_paper_123296.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Asli Demirguc-Kunt & Leora Klapper, 2013. "Measuring Financial Inclusion: Explaining Variation in Use of Financial Services across and within Countries," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 44(1 (Spring), pages 279-340.
    2. Asli Demirguc-Kunt & Leora Klapper, 2013. "Measuring Financial Inclusion: Explaining Variation in Use of Financial Services across and within Countries," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 46(1 (Spring), pages 279-340.
    3. Mohammad Asif & Mohd Naved Khan & Sadhana Tiwari & Showkat K. Wani & Firoz Alam, 2023. "The Impact of Fintech and Digital Financial Services on Financial Inclusion in India," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-12, February.
    4. Pascaline Dupas & Dean Karlan & Jonathan Robinson & Diego Ubfal, 2018. "Banking the Unbanked? Evidence from Three Countries," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 257-297, April.
    5. Michael B. Adams, 1994. "Agency Theory and the Internal Audit," Managerial Auditing Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 9(8), pages 8-12, December.
    6. Zakaria Elouaourti & Aomar Ibourk, 2024. "Unveiling the drivers of Africa's digital financial inclusion journey," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 36(1), pages 84-96, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Austin Mwange & Kampamba Clarence Chibesa & Windu Matoka & Lwando Kalaba, 2025. "An Investigation of the Impacts of Artificial Intelligence on Financial Inclusion in Developing Economies: Case of Sub-Saharan Africa," African Journal of Commercial Studies, African Journal of Commercial Studies, vol. 6(3).

    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. Singh, Nirvikar, 2018. "Financial Inclusion: Concepts, Issues and Policies for India," MPRA Paper 91047, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Grohmann, Antonia & Klühs, Theres & Menkhoff, Lukas, 2018. "Does financial literacy improve financial inclusion? Cross country evidence," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 111, pages 84-96.
    3. repec:rza:wpaper:893 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Kodongo, Odongo, 2024. "Financial inclusion effects of engaging with the fintech ecosystem," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 96(PB).
    5. Marcelin, Isaac & Sun, Wei, 2025. "Financial inclusion, inequality, and retirement trends among older workers," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    6. Ndlovu, Godfrey & Toerien, Francois, 2020. "The distributional impact of access to finance on poverty: evidence from selected countries in Sub-Saharan Africa," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    7. J. Michael Collins & Jeff Larrimore & Carly Urban, 2026. "Bank Accounts for Minors: A Pathway to Financial Inclusion or a Dead-End?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 24(1), pages 131-160, March.
    8. Perrin, Caroline & Hyland, Marie, 2026. "Gendered laws and Women’s financial inclusion," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    9. Ongo Nkoa, Bruno Emmanuel & Song, Jacques Simon, 2020. "Does institutional quality affect financial inclusion in Africa? A panel data analysis," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 44(4).
    10. David Damiyano & Stephen Mago, 2023. "An Analysis of the Impact of Financial Inclusion on Poverty and Development: Case of SACU Countries," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 13(6), pages 141-147, November.
    11. Gallego-Losada, María-Jesús & Montero-Navarro, Antonio & García-Abajo, Elisa & Gallego-Losada, Rocío, 2023. "Digital financial inclusion. Visualizing the academic literature," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    12. Deng, Jiapin & Li, Xiaoxia & Liu, Yanchu, 2025. "Does broadband infrastructure promote households’ welfare in wealth management? Evidence from the construction of cell towers and the purchase of Yu’E Bao in China," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    13. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2022. "The of role economic growth in modulating mobile connectivity dynamics for financial inclusion in developing countries," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 22/013, African Governance and Development Institute..
    14. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "Bank accounts, bank concentration and mobile money innovations," Working Papers 23/019, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    15. Asongu, Simplice A. & Biekpe, Nicholas & Cassimon, Danny, 2021. "On the diffusion of mobile phone innovations for financial inclusion," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    16. Lyu, Wenyi & Yu, Leng & Zhang, Jiajun, 2024. "Peer effects in digital inclusive finance participation decisions: Evidence from rural China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    17. Rigzin Yangdol & Mandira Sarma, 2019. "Demand-side Factors for Financial Inclusion: A Cross-country Empirical Analysis," International Studies, , vol. 56(2-3), pages 163-185, April.
    18. Asongu, Simplice A. & Biekpe, Nicholas & Cassimon, Danny, 2020. "Understanding the greater diffusion of mobile money innovations in Africa," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(8).
    19. Nartey Menzo, Benjamin Prince & Mogre, Diana & Asuamah Yeboah, Samuel, 2024. "Beyond Income: The Complexities of Credit Risk in Developing Countries," MPRA Paper 122364, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 20 Sep 2024.
    20. Kara, Alper & Zhou, Haoyong & Zhou, Yifan, 2021. "Achieving the United Nations' sustainable development goals through financial inclusion: A systematic literature review of access to finance across the globe," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    21. Chaikal Nuryakin & Prani Sastiono & Faradina Alifia Maizar & Pyan Amin & Nanda Puspita & Wahyu Pramono & Christine Tjen, 2018. "Toward Higher Financial Inclusion Rate: Service Quality, Costs Of Access, And Awareness," LPEM FEBUI Working Papers 201821, LPEM, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Indonesia, revised Jul 2018.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:pra:mprapa:123296. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    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.