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. 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.
    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. 44(1 (Spring), pages 279-340.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    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)

    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," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), 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. 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).
    6. Marcelin, Isaac & Sun, Wei, 2025. "Financial inclusion, inequality, and retirement trends among older workers," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    7. 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).
    8. 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.
    9. Lu, Weijie & Niu, Geng & Zhou, Yang, 2021. "Individualism and financial inclusion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 268-288.
    10. 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).
    11. Asongu, Simplice A. & Biekpe, Nicholas & Cassimon, Danny, 2020. "Understanding the greater diffusion of mobile money innovations in Africa," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(8).
    12. 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..
    13. Smita Ramakrishna (Correspondence author) & Pankaj Trivedi, 2018. "What Determines the Success of Financial Inclusion? An Empirical Analysis of Demand Side Factors," Review of Economics & Finance, Better Advances Press, Canada, vol. 14, pages 98-112, November.
    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. Daud, Siti Nurazira Mohd & Ahmad, Abd Halim, 2023. "Financial inclusion, economic growth and the role of digital technology," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    17. Orkun Saka & Barry Eichengreen & Cevat Giray Aksoy, 2022. "Epidemic Exposure, Financial Technology, and the Digital Divide," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 54(7), pages 1913-1940, October.
    18. 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).
    19. Asongu, Simplice A. & Agyemang-Mintah, Peter & Nting, Rexon T., 2021. "Law, mobile money drivers and mobile money innovations in developing countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    20. 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.
    21. Sagir Danladi & M. S. V. Prasad & Umar Muhammad Modibbo & Seyedeh Asra Ahmadi & Peiman Ghasemi, 2023. "Attaining Sustainable Development Goals through Financial Inclusion: Exploring Collaborative Approaches to Fintech Adoption in Developing Economies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-14, August.

    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.