- Title
- The moderating effect of socioeconomic factors on the relationship between financial inclusion and poverty among South African vulnerable households
- Creator
- Khalane, Pontso Violet
- ThesisAdvisor
- Antoni, Xolile
- Subject
- Financial inclusion
- Subject
- Poverty South Africa
- Subject
- Socioeconomic status South Africa
- Subject
- Financial sector
- Subject
- South Africa. Financial Sector Regulation Act, 2017
- Date
- 2023-03-31
- Type
- Academic theses
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/419451
- Identifier
- vital:71645
- Description
- Vulnerable households are often excluded from the formal financial sector, subsequently experiencing more poverty. Vulnerable households are those that face higher chances of experiencing higher levels of poverty due to their socioeconomic factors. This study aimed to determine the moderating effect of socioeconomic factors on the relationship between financial inclusion and poverty among South African vulnerable households. Poverty is the involuntary lack of monetary and other resources that can afford households with basic human needs and a decent standard of living above a chosen poverty measure. This study measured poverty using a multidimensional measure that incorporated a household’s deprivation of health, education and a decent standard of living. Financial inclusion refers to a process of incorporating vulnerable households into the formal financial sector by ensuring that they receive timely and adequate access to regulated financial products at an affordable price, regardless of their socioeconomic status. This study measured financial inclusion multidimensionally using access to four basic regulated financial products. Socioeconomic factors included gender, race, first or home language, age, the highest level and many more factors. This study was supported by theoretical framework of the vulnerable group theory of financial inclusion, financial development theory, the credit rationing theory and the public goods theory of financial inclusion. The study adopted a quantitative research design. The study used existing data from the FinMark FinScope 2016 South Africa database, which collected data on households’ demographics and their ownership of financial products. Using a closed-ended questionnaire, FinMark FinScope collected the data across South Africa through a multi-probability sampling technique. The final database used in this study after data cleaning contained a sample of 2759 households. The study used descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product-moment correlation, ANOVA and Multiple regression to investigate the factors of the study. The results of the study found a statistically significant relationship between financial inclusion and vulnerable households. The results also found a statistically significant relationship between poverty and vulnerable households. The results further showed a statistically significant negative relationship between financial inclusion and poverty. Lastly, the study found that only socioeconomic factors such as marital status, age as it relates to children and old people moderating effect on the relationship between financial inclusion and poverty among South African vulnerable households. Subsequently, it was concluded that vulnerable households experienced higher levels of poverty in South Africa, and these vulnerable households were less financially included in South Africa. Additionally, it was found that increasing vulnerable households’ access to all regulated financial products could help decrease their poverty levels. The study made several recommendations, which included inter-alia that formal financial institutions design products that specifically meet the needs of vulnerable households. This study also recommended that banks play a central role in facilitating vulnerable households’ affordability of health in South Africa (e.g., offering affordable healthcare products to vulnerable households). Theoretically, this study contributed to the body of literature using multidimensional financial inclusion and poverty, as well as determining the moderating effect of socioeconomic factors. Practically, this study provided insights to the banks on how to develop their products to meet the needs of vulnerable households, help alleviate poverty, and increase the banks’ market into previously unbanked or underbanked segments of the population of South Africa.
- Description
- Thesis (MCom) -- Faculty of Commerce, Accounting, 2023
- Format
- computer, online resource, application/pdf, 1 online resource (263 pages), pdf
- Publisher
- Rhodes University, Faculty of Commerce, Management
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Khalane, Pontso Violet
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike" License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/)
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Collections
Gender Action Forum (GENACT)
RU Department of Management
SDG 01. No Poverty
SDG 05. Gender Equality
SDG 10. Reduced Inequalities
| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | KHALANE-MCOM-TR23-39.pdf | 10 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |