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This study aims to propose a Sharīʿah-based and information and communication technology-driven microfinance model (SIMM) to reduce extreme poverty in rural areas. Existing microfinance models run by microfinance institutions exclude severely poor individuals from their activities.

This study uses an exploratory sequential mixed-method design structured as Studies 1 and 2. Study 1 uses the grounded theory methodology to develop the emergent SIMM through interviews and focus group discussions with the participants (12 rich, 6 rural elites and 18 poor) of the target village. Study 2 uses a survey of 421 household members in the target village to evaluate their attitudes (ATT), subjective norms (SN) and perceived behavioural control (PBC) related to SIMM. Partial least squares-based structural equation modelling is used to evaluate relationships between constructs.

Study 1 identifies seven themes, in which aspirational hope is recognised as a core theme. Study 2 indicates significant relationships between ATT and PBC and between SN and PBC. Thus, the SIMM can alleviate poverty in rural communities.

The application of the SIMM in the pilot study provides aspirational hope for eradicating extreme poverty.

Other rural communities should be encouraged to apply the SIMM to alleviate extreme poverty in their villages.

This study contributes to the development of an innovative microfinance model (SIMM) to eradicate extreme poverty in rural areas.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how social enterprises (SEs) sustain social focus as they shift their legal format from nonprofit to for-profit. The investigation is driven by the understanding that historical persistence of organizational action can influence the sustenance of social focus.

The paper uses a case study approach and traces the commercialization process of two microfinance organization from India. The data come from interviews and archival documents spanning across the biography of the selected organizations. The constitutive elements of the commercialization process are identified by using the lens of path creation.

Evidence suggests that the framing of purpose for microfinance as empowerment of women formed the triggering event to path creation. The organizations retained the focus on social goal by adopting a community centered delivery model of self-help groups. The organizational practices adopted after commercialization helped these organization to address the issues of drift actively.

The paper suggests that framing of organizational purpose can play a crucial role in sustaining hybrid character in SEs. It reinforces earlier findings that stakeholders can exert significant influence in balancing social and commercial goal. The aspiration to be identified as a pro-community organization is another critical driver in sustaining social focus. Finally, for SEs to sustain their social focus, proactive engagement with the community should become an integral part of organizational practices.

The paper explores the constitutive elements of path creation and demonstrates the sustenance of social focus through three stages of organizational path development. It also offers insights into the literature on historical imprinting by exploring the internal process through which imprinting is sustained and amplified and by presenting sources and outcome of imprinting.

This study aims to offer a literature review on microinsurance, focusing on its financial performance and social impact. The aim is to review current research in microinsurance performance. Over the past decade, microinsurance has aroused the interest of the scientific community. Scholars have monitored its development and have examined its impact on the poor’s ability of breaking out of the poverty trap.

A systematic-narrative method was used to review the relevant literature. In total, 64 relevant articles on investigating the financial performance and the effects of microinsurance programs on the poor’s well-being were reviewed, coded and followed by a narrative synthesis.

This review synthesizes current published data on microinsurance to provide practitioners and researchers with a better understanding of this important area. Microinsurance benefits the poor, as it reduces their vulnerability to poverty. Microinsurance has a twofold impact on an individual’s ability to overcome poverty. First, it has a direct impact on access to healthcare services and, second, it has an indirect effect on an individual’s economic status, by moderating risk vulnerability and improving income stability. Further research is necessary to reach concrete conclusions about the financial performance of microinsurance programs. Finally, the analysis of the literature revealed an absence of research regarding the impact of microinsurance on society and sustainable development.

An understanding of the performance of microinsurance services is important. Therefore, the findings can be used by microinsurance practitioners to assess and improve their performance. Further, policy implications such as improvement of financial knowledge and social marketing via education polices to increase microinsurance awareness of its benefits are recommended.

This review provides a synthesis of the literature in microinsurance concerning its financial and social performance, and raises suggestions for future research.

Institutional structures of rural savings and loan associations influence their performances. One of the guiding principles for defining clear group membership boundaries is by setting rules on who has access. Social ties is a prominent requirement for membership. The objective of the current study is to provide quantitative evidence on the role of social ties membership criteria for the performance of saving and loan associations.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted in July–August 2019 comprising 48 associations in 13 villages in the Iringa District of Tanzania. In the current study, the authors use two indicators to measure the social ties between members, namely social closed association (the association applies criteria to accept only members who are relatives, friends or from the same hamlet) and physical distance (the fraction of members from other villages).

The authors find that associations are diverse both in terms of social ties, physical distance and performance, even in a small homogeneous region like Iringa District. Providing loans more easily to members with social ties has a negative relationship with loan repayment rates. Associations applying the social closeness criteria experience higher default rates than those not applying. The default rates become even worse when the fraction of member members from other villages increases in the socially tied associations.

Physically distant members are more likely to default as they perceive less social pressure in an association with socially tied members. Development practitioners and policy makers should integrate the potential implications.

The authors provide empirical evidence on the relevance of social ties on credit access and repayment in savings and loan associations, using a novel multi-level data on financial performance in the context of community-based finance organizations in rural areas.

This paper examines the rhetorical strategies of two Indian microfinance organizations as they transformed from non-profit to commercial format. They shifted forms at a time (year 2010), when commercialization had been criticized severely. The purpose of this paper is to understand “How does a microfinance organization justify its action of transformation to retain legitimacy?”

The paper adopts a qualitative case study method to understand the phenomena. Interview, archival documents, and field observations are the major source of data for the study. Data analysis is carried out through coding method.

Drawing from Suddaby and Greenwood’s (2005) work on rhetorical strategies, the paper suggests that these organizations have used two types of rhetorical strategies – cosmological and teleological. These strategies operate in a performative role and link deviant practices with routines. It focuses on institutional maintenance rather than change.

The paper acknowledges two important limitations. First, the rhetorical focus may be influenced by the history of organization. So depending on organization selected, the focus may vary. Second, the paper is constricted by the low-documentation practices prevailing in many civil society organizations.

The paper contributes to the literature on hybrid organization by unpacking the process of sense making in a hybrid form. The paper also reinforces the argument that language operates in a performative role. The paper provides a new context (India) to understand the process of rhetorical strategies.

Equity crowdfunding offers a wide audience – the crowd – the possibility of financing a business project by choosing the beneficiary in accordance with the positive impact of the investment on society or the environment. This new funding mode may be located between venture capital and microcredit. In Africa, the phenomenon is embryonic but could find its place in the microfinance system since it is based on the widespread traditional model of “tontines.” We first observed the crowdfunding platforms dedicated to Africa and conducted interviews in Gabon with microfinance institutions and small business owners. This empirical work then led us to mobilize new institutional theory to suggest a conceptual broadening of the participatory financing system, with a view to enhancing local economic development in Africa.