Influence of social missions on the performance of microfinance institutions in Kenya
Date
2024
Authors
Wangui, C.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
Microfinance is regarded as a critical pillar of economic development mostly for developing economies. The sector plays a crucial role in alleviating poverty, mobilizing a savings culture, promoting financial inclusion, empowering women and youth, enhancing economic opportunity for low-income earners, and addressing social inequality. Yet, microfinance institutions face multiple challenges from high credit risks to limited access to capital. Despite these challenges, microfinance institutions are expected to maintain a triple bottom line and demonstrate social and environmental impact as much as they pursue financial success. These institutions operate on an unconventional business model so the dynamics of social and environmental responsibility may vary. Notwithstanding this revelation, the pursuit of social missions and its impact on the performance of microfinance institutions remains underexplored. This study aimed to address this gap by determining the effect social missions have on the performance of microfinance institutions in Kenya. Social mission, the independent variable, was represented by financial inclusion, healthcare missions, and sustainable practices with microfinance institution performance being the dependent variable. The stakeholder, institutional, and legitimacy theories underpinned this study, and a cross-sectional descriptive study was adopted as a research design. The target population constituted employees in managerial positions in 43 registered microfinance institutions in Kenya from whom a sample of 260 participants were selected using purposive sampling. Primary data was collected using questionnaires and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the study found that financial inclusion, healthcare missions, and sustainable business practices have a positive and significant effect on the performance. It, therefore, concludes that financial inclusion, healthcare missions, and sustainable practices are significant predictors of the performance of microfinance institutions in Kenya. Based on the findings, this research recommends that microfinance institutions should invest in social missions with a special focus on financial inclusion in order to boost overall performance. Also, since this research was limited to only three social missions, it recommends exploring other types of social missions.
Description
Full - text thesis
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Citation
Wangui, C. (2024). Influence of social missions on the performance of microfinance institutions in Kenya [Strathmore University]. http://hdl.handle.net/11071/15546