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This study has a dual purpose. The first is constructing a financial inclusion index to investigate if the reforms implemented during the last decades at the macroeconomic and sectoral levels have contributed to increase the financial inclusion level in Morocco. The second is to deepen the investigation to explore the impact of these reforms at the microeconomic level, by focusing on six major issues: determinants of financial inclusion, links between individual characteristics and barriers to financial inclusion, determinants of mobile banking use, motivations for saving, credit objectives and determinants of resorting to informal finance.

First, the principal component analysis methodology is mobilized to construct a financial inclusion index for Morocco. Second, the probit model methodology on a micro-level database of 5,110 Moroccan adults is used.

First, the financial inclusion index shows that financial inclusion in Morocco over the last two decades has followed different trends. The first period (1999–2004) was characterized by a slight upswing in the level of financial inclusion. In the second period (2004–2012), the level of financial inclusion increased significantly. During the third period (2012–2019), the financial inclusion maintained almost the same level. Second, empirical results showed that the determinants of formal finance and mobile banking are different from those of informal finance. Having a high educational attainment and being a participant in the labor market fosters financial inclusion. Concerning financial exclusion determinants, the results emphasized that a high educational attainment reduces the barriers leading to voluntary exclusion. As income level increases, barriers of involuntary exclusion such as “lack of money” become surmountable. Although "remoteness" and "high cost" are the major barriers to financial inclusion of all Moroccan social classes, the development of mobile banking allows to eliminate, smoothen and/or loosen all barriers sources of involuntary exclusion. As for the barriers causing voluntary exclusion, the Islamic finance model constitutes a lever for the inclusion of population segments excluded for religious reasons. As for the determinants of the recourse to informal finance, being a woman, an older person and having a low educational level (no more than secondary education) increase the probability to turn to informal finance.

The main limitation of this study is the non-availability of data on the two dimensions (quality and welfare) of financial inclusion. The composite index is constructed on the basis of two dimensions (access and use) for which data are available.

This study has three main implications. In practice, with the launching of the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion, this work provides empirical grounded evidence that contributes to design financial inclusion policies in Morocco. In research, while the debate on financial inclusion, mobile banking and informal finance has been raging in recent years, Morocco, like many other African countries, has not received coverage on these topics at the household level.

For society, this study provides considerable insight about the segments of population that are financially excluded and the main reasons for their exclusion.

This study enriches the existing literature with four essential contributions. First, it analyzes the evolution of the level of financial inclusion in the Moroccan economy through the development of a synthetic index. Second, it is the first to study the Moroccan population's financial behavior on the basis of micro-level data, which will help understand more precisely their financial behavior and the main obstacles to their inclusion. Third, this study explores the determinants of the use of mobile banking. Fourth, it sheds some light on the main determinants of the recourse to informal finance.

This paper aim to fill the gaps by looking for the determinants and barriers related to financial inclusion. This study assesses the effect of socio-demographic variables on the use of formal financial inclusion services.

This article examines the barriers to formal financial inclusion, focusing on saving and credit strands. The authors propose the probit model, allowing distinguishing the outcome variable into three categories: Formal inclusion, informal inclusion and financial exclusion. The authors apply this model to the Findex 2017 survey data.

Estimation results propose that the trust to financial institutions, the distance to banks, the lack of documentation and the service costs are the main barriers, but these barriers affect the probability of using formal financial services differently according to the types of financial services (saving or credit).

To advance the formal financial inclusion in Tunisia, the authors call for continuing promoting financial literacy among adults and the young population, which helps them understand the benefits of using formal financial services. Financial literacy throws in constructing the individual trust toward the financial sector in a country that experienced several decades of political and economic instability.

Financial inclusion promotes growth through a broadening of the system and technology that can be a major catalyst for greater financial inclusion. It helps in the overall economic development of the underprivileged population and contributes to poverty reduction. It can also enhance the security of payments, and thus lower the incidence of associated crime.

This study aims to identify the involuntary barriers of financial inclusion which are affecting the usage of Islamic microfinance services in PROCAPEC institution located in Nouakchott-Mauritania. Subsequently, it also examines the effect of gender as a moderator in the model.

Primary data was collected through a cross-sectional questionnaire from 381 beneficiaries of PROCAPEC – a major Islamic microfinance provider in Mauritania. In methodology, the study uses confirmatory factor analysis to identify relevant involuntary factors affecting usage, followed by structural equation modelling to test the impact of these factors on the usage of Islamic microfinance (IsMF) products.

Two of the four factors are statistically significant in affecting the usage of IsMF products, namely, affordability and eligibility. Gender is a moderator in the relationship between affordability and usage, as well as eligibility and usage.

Policymakers, practitioners and managers of Islamic microfinance institutions can consider these factors and focus on strategies, including pricing and promotion, which aim to further develop the Islamic microfinance industry in Mauritania. Also, reducing documentation required from clients and adopting lenient rules to provide suitable products will enhance the use of IsMF products, which may lead to more customers’ attraction.

Although several researchers have articulated financial inclusion, this study sheds light on a specific dimension of financial inclusion to determine the factors impacting IsMF products’ usage. In Mauritania, there are few studies about microfinance. This study will be amongst the pioneer contribution to the geographical gap.

The purpose of this paper is to combine the critical parameters used to study financial inclusion into a composite index. The idea is to rank Indian states and union territories (UTs) on the basis of this index, determine change in ranks during 2011 to 2014 and identify factors affecting high/low scores on the index.

Data for the study were collected from secondary sources published by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Central Statistical Organization. Applying technique of order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), a composite multi-dimensional index of financial inclusion (IFI) has been built by using three broad parameters of penetration, availability and usage of banking services. Factors significantly influencing scores of states/UTs on IFI were identified using multiple regression analysis.

The value of financial inclusion for India on composite IFI has increased by 0.045 points during the study period. Share of agriculture to state gross domestic product, literacy ratio, population density, infrastructure development and farmer suicides are significant factors affecting financial inclusion.

The multi-dimensional IFI is a useful tool to measure financial inclusion using several parameters for various states/regions. The index can also be used to compare the performance of states/regions over same/different periods.

This paper is unique in its attempt to construct multi-dimensional IFI for Indian states/UTs by applying TOPSIS. It will prove useful for future researchers by combining several aspects of financial inclusion into single index.

This study examined whether life satisfaction varied among women who occupy different motherhood statuses, and if these variations were influenced by differences in women’s internalization of cultural motherhood norms. We distinguished among women as biological mothers, stepmothers, and “double mothers,” who were both biological and stepmothers. We also included two groups of women without children: voluntary childfree and involuntary childless women.

Data were drawn from the National Study of Fertility Barriers and analyzed using OLS regression.

Biological mothers reported greater life satisfaction than women in other motherhood statuses. Accounting for the internalization of motherhood norms, double mothers had significantly lower life satisfaction compared to biological mothers, but voluntary childfree women had significantly greater life satisfaction. More detailed analyses indicated that internalization of cultural norms only appears to influence the life satisfaction of women with biological children.

The results suggest that it may not simply be motherhood that affects women’s well-being, but rather that women’s internalization of motherhood ideals, particularly when it corresponds with their motherhood status, significantly impacts well-being. Limitations of this study include small cell sizes for some categories of women where additional distinctions may have been useful, such as lesbian or adoptive mothers. Future work should incorporate diverse family forms and expand on the newly named category “double mothers.”

By providing a more nuanced approach to categorizing motherhood status, including identifying double mothers, stepmothers-only, and two groups of childless women, the study added detail that has been overlooked in previous work on well-being.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the implications for competitive advantage deriving from strategic knowledge and knowledge transfer process.

One major issue in a knowledge‐based (KBV) view consists of delimiting the source of competitive advantage, that is, knowledge versus knowledge management processes (acquisition, transfer, generation). Based on the KBV and knowledge management literature, the current paper considers the importance of both elements. Specifically, the paper focuses on strategic knowledge and knowledge transfer process.

The contributions of this paper are the proposal of strategic knowledge characteristics and the suggestion of a theoretical framework to study the internal transfer of strategic knowledge. The main conclusion is that the characteristics of knowledge that generate competitive advantage also create barriers for internal transfer. The research question addressed here is what firms must do to transfer strategic knowledge within the firm while limiting involuntary transfer.

In order to answer this question, this paper suggests a theoretical framework that focuses not only on the implications of knowledge of a strategic asset, but rather takes a much broader perspective, considering the transfer process as a whole and highlighting the role of the different elements of this process (source, receiver and context) in order to facilitate the efficient transfer of strategic knowledge.

The purpose of this study is to contrast the effects of four exit barriers on word of mouth activities. Monetary, service loss, social and convenience exit barriers are compared. The differential effects of these four barriers on the valence of word of mouth (positive, negative), the type of word of mouth recipient (weak tie, strong tie) and the motives (catharsis, company sabotage) for spreading word of mouth are studied.

The data for empirically addressing a set of hypotheses were collected from 185 consumers. The hypotheses were analyzed using ANOVA models along with post hoc tests.

The results suggest that the type of exit barrier matters. Exit barriers, with respect to word of mouth activities, seem to fall on a continuum. On one extreme, the most detrimental barriers are monetary hurdles, and on the other end, the least detrimental barriers are convenience hurdles. Monetary barriers are responsible for the most negative word of mouth and company sabotage. Social and convenience barriers lead to significantly less.

The implications for erecting exit barriers are discussed. In particular, the value of monetary barriers is questioned. The benefits of such involuntary customer retention methods may be offset by the sabotage they invite through negative word of mouth.

The paper provides insights into word of mouth activities of dissatisfied customers that are trapped by various exit barriers. The word of mouth activities investigated include valence, recipient type and motives. The study contrasts monetary, service loss, social and convenience exit barriers.

The purpose of this study is to identify determinants of involuntary cross-listing (CL) of US restaurant companies on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (FSE).

The study utilizes a mixed method design with an interview and a pooled logistic regression analysis with panel dataset using the company-clustered standard error to develop and test the hypotheses.

The empirical investigation identified determinants of involuntary CL by examining ten factors, including size, firm growth opportunities, leverage, financial flexibility, international operation, profitability, overall German economic condition, industry growth opportunities, restaurant type, and local operation. The study found three determinants – large size, favorable economic condition in Germany and positive industry growth opportunities – utilizing the sample that covers the entire periods of involuntary CL of US restaurant companies on the FSE.

This paper uncovers the phenomenon of involuntary CL, which many stock exchanges have strategically adopted by simplifying listing requirements for companies already listed in other stock markets, focusing on US restaurant companies. The number of involuntarily cross-listed US restaurant companies greatly increased to 50 percent of domestically listed US restaurant companies while those companies are largely unaware of the phenomenon. The research advances understanding of involuntary CLs, which previously received little attention.

The aim of this article is to explore the current European debate over labour market flexibility. First, it considers lessons from economic theory. The classical consensus considering unemployment to be purely voluntary, the Keynesian consensus introducing the concept of demand deficient involuntary unemployment and finally the neo‐classical consensus returning us to the classical viewpoint of the dominance of real conditions in the labour market. In order to proceed without confusion the article provides a clear working definition of the natural rate of unemployment and its three main components, voluntary unemployment, structural unemployment and involuntary unemployment. It then proceed to analyse each of these main components in detail, illustrating the difference between a free market approach and a European Commission approach to reducing each component of unemployment. The article concludes that the future is dependent on all EU citizens as electors of governments and holders of wages to moderate.

The price war and intense competition in Indian banking industry have exposed banks to one of the major threat of switching. Consumers are now more price and service conscious in their financial services purchasing behaviour. They are more prone to change their banking behaviour as banking products and services are nearly identical in nature. The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight of the drivers that lead a customer switch from one service provider to another in Indian banking industry using exploratory design.

The impacts of the influencing factors have been studied and tested empirically using exploratory factor analysis. Quantitative data have been collected by means of questionnaire employed from Clemes et al. and administered to 296 banking customers of Rajasthan utilizing convenience sampling.

Results reported that price, reputation, responses to service failure, customer satisfaction, service quality, service products, competition, customer commitment and involuntary switching have their significant effect on customers’ switching behaviour.

The findings of present study can be used by the Indian banks for their product and service designing strategies, marketing strategies and customer services practices in order to reduce customer switching. It would help them in improving their service operations and also in increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty by understanding the banking behaviour of their customers.

The originality lies in the fact that this study is one of few which have focused on the drivers leading to the switching intentions of Indian banking customers.