Effect of digital financial services uptake on socio-economic status of households in Kibera

Date
2024
Authors
Ngandi, T.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
The current economic conditions characterized by a high cost of living, high interest rates on loans and unemployment, digital lending products and services have increasingly become an option for many. Borrowing appetite has often led to bad debts, shifting between lending institutions to evade the responsibility to repay loans and resulting to debt accumulation. This study sought to find out the influence of digital financial services on the socioeconomic status of Kibera households. Specifically, the research sought to find out: the effect of digital credit services on socioeconomic status of households; the effect of digital savings services on socioeconomic status of households; and the moderating effect of household characteristics on the relationship between digital financial services and socioeconomic status of households. Primary data collection through administering structured questionnaires to the target population of households in Kibera. The questionnaires were issued randomly but purposively to households that used digital credit and digital savings. Descriptive statistics entailed mean and standard deviation were used for analysis. Inferential statistics, particularly regression analysis was conducted. OLS regression model was used to establish the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable. Notably, digital credit, digital savings and household characteristics had a positive relationship with socioeconomic status. Digital savings had a positive effect while digital credit reported a negative effect on socioeconomic status. Only one element of household characteristics namely, household size had a moderating effect on the relationship between digital financial services and socioeconomic status. The findings of this study are important to policymakers, regulators and digital financial services providers. The findings will be significant to future researchers who might need to refer or build on it through further research. The study recommended that there was need for policy makers to look at how the negative effects of digital credit on socioeconomic status can be reversed and maximize on the positive impact of digital savings on socioeconomic status of households. Key Words: Digital Credit, Digital Savings, Socioeconomic status, Household characteristics
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Full - text thesis
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Citation
Ngandi, T. (2024). Effect of digital financial services uptake on socio-economic status of households in Kibera [Strathmore University]. http://hdl.handle.net/11071/15581