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Mobile money is a service in which the mobile phone is used to access financial services. Thus, the mobile money platform should be user-friendly with hedonic features that are attractive and pleasurable to the users. The main purpose of this paper is to establish the mediating effect of hedonism in the relationship between mobile money adoption and usage and financial inclusion of micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Uganda.

This study reports interesting findings by using data obtained from MSMEs located in northern Uganda. The structural equation and measurement models were generated in analysis of moment structures (AMOS) to answer the hypotheses of this study.

The findings suggest that including hedonism in the model improves mobile money adoption and usage by 12.7 percentage points in order to promote financial inclusion of MSMEs in Uganda. Hedonism is found to affect mobile money adoption and usage, which in turn influences financial inclusion.

This study used cross-sectional data to document the mediating effect of hedonism in the relationship between mobile money adoption and usage and financial inclusion. The study analyzed mobile money adoption and usage, hedonism, and financial inclusion from the MSMEs owners' perspective. Future research could use relevant longitudinal data to verify multiple benefits of hedonism in enhancing mobile money adoption and usage as well as other potential digital financial technologies.

This study categorically informs mobile telephone network operators and inventors of mobile money applications to invest more in developing pleasurable and user-friendly mobile money features that can attract more users. The digital financial services' application developers should design user-friendly mobile money applications that suit the needs of all users. This requires careful understanding of diverse attractive features of mobile money services.

This study offers direction to developers of mobile money applications to design pleasurable and user-friendly mobile money platform with features, which are attractive to the different users. Particularly, it highlights the role of hedonic motivation in promoting adoption and use of mobile money technology to increase the scope of financial inclusion of MSMEs in a developing country like Uganda. Indeed, the novelty in this paper is grounded on a blend of financial technology and psychology to promote financial inclusion in under developed economies.

Using the theory, construct, method, moderator (TCMM) format, this framework-based review critically analyses the mobile financial services (MFSs) field through a detailed synthesis and analysis of a sample of mainstream empirical research published in various scientific journals within the period 2009–2020.

The authors followed a three-step structured approach suggested by Webster and Watson (2002) to search for the literature to synthesise the global perspectives on MFSs and their associated applications and systems. The literature research resulted in the identification of 115 most relevant articles.

The authors identified three major categories or domains within the MFSs comprising the entire spectrum of digital financial services. To facilitate the literature analysis, TCMM is developed and proposed as an organising framework. Moreover, the authors also developed and presented the comprehensive framework of MFS domains and explicitly identified 14 different research themes for future research in MFSs.

Prior attempts to synthesise and analyse mainstream academic research in MFSs have been scant and limited to a specific MFS domain: mobile banking or mobile payment. The authors synthesised a more extensive body of knowledge and provided a global perspective on the MFS field. Unlike the past literature reviews which followed traditional frameworks such as antecedents, decisions and outcome (ADO); TCCM; and 6 W Framework (who, when, where, how, what and why), the authors developed and proposed TCMM as organising framework.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the correlations between mobile banking and inclusive development (poverty and inequality) in 93 developing countries for the year 2011.

Mobile banking entails the following: “mobile phones used to pay bills” and “mobile phones used to receive/send money”, while the modifying policy indicator includes the human development index (HDI). The data are decomposed into seven sub-panels based on two fundamental characteristics: regions (Latin America, Asia and the Pacific, Central and Eastern Europe, and Middle East and North Africa) and income levels (upper middle income, lower middle income and low income).

The results show that at certain thresholds of the HDI, mobile banking is positively linked to inclusive development. The following specific findings are established. First, the increased use of mobile phones to pay bills is negatively correlated with: poverty in lower-middle-income countries (LMIC), upper-middle-income countries (UMIC) and Latin American (LA) countries, respectively, at HDI thresholds of 0.725, 0.727 and 0.778 and inequality in UMIC and LA with HDI thresholds of, respectively, 0.646 and 0.761. Second, the increased use of mobile phones to send/receive money is negatively correlated with: poverty in LMIC, UMIC and Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries with corresponding HDI thresholds of 0.631, 0.750 and 0.750 and inequality in UMIC, CEE and LA at HDI thresholds of 0.665, 0.736 and 0.726, respectively.

The findings are discussed in the light of current policy challenges in the transition from the UN’s Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals.

The authors have exploited the only macroeconomic data on mobile banking currently available.

Fintech is having a profound impact in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) because it offers more financial inclusion. In this paper, the authors examine the interrelationship of Fintech, base of the pyramid (BOP) entrepreneurs and social value creation, particularly in the SSA context.

The current paper uses a qualitative research design with open-ended, in-depth interviews as the main data sources. The authors interviewed respondents from the Sierra Leone Fintech Association and four BOP entrepreneurs operating in different sectors.

The authors find that Fintech services, specifically mobile money, play a significant role in reducing uncertainty surrounding business operations. FinTech also offers growth possibilities for BOP entrepreneurs and creates social value by providing transactional security, convenience and reducing physical cash robberies. At the same time, Fintech contributes to social value by enhancing BOP entrepreneurs as well as consumers' skills development.

This study highlights the importance of context-specific theorization when analyzing the interlinkage between BOP entrepreneurship, social value creation and Fintech. For example, the possibility of safety from a street robbery may not appear to be part of social value creation by a technological development like Fintech. However, in a country like Sierra Leone, which has experienced both a civil war and Ebola outbreak, insecurity has been one of the biggest concerns expressed by BOP inhabitants. Hence, scholars need to incorporate contextual elements of risk, uncertainty and volatility while theorizing on Fintech's application in BOP contexts.

A key managerial implication relates to micro-firm entrepreneurs and information specific benefits. Fintech offers entrepreneurs the possibility to be in regular contact with customers and evaluate their purchasing patterns as well as emergent needs. Fintech offers BOP entrepreneurs a possibility to further develop their technological skills as learning to use such apps can be used as a basis for further skills development. From a policy perspective, our study highlights the importance of regulating Fintech charges so that the affordability is increased, which is expected to result in significantly more BOP entrepreneurs using these services.

The authors find that at the same time, Fintech contributes to social value by enhancing skills development of BOP consumers who interact with case firms.

This paper is one of the first studies that specifically focuses on BOP entrepreneurship and social value creation by Fintech services in an SSA context. It is also one of the few studies that incorporates views from both entrepreneurs and the country's Fintech association, rather than focusing solely on either entrepreneurs or Fintech firms. Finally, there is a specific focus on BOP entrepreneurs engaging in micro-entrepreneurship.

The purpose of this paper is to respond to some challenges in the transition to sustainable development goals by examining the correlations between mobile and inclusive development (quality of growth, poverty and inequality) in 93 developing countries for the year 2011.

Mobile money service entails: “mobile used to pay bills” and “mobile used to receive/send money.” Interactive ordinary least squares are employed.

The following findings are established. First, increasing use of the mobile phones to pay bills is positively linked to “quality of growth” in lower-middle-income countries and negatively correlated with inequality in Latin American countries. Second, growing use of mobile phones to send/receive money is negatively associated with poverty in Asia and Pacific and Central and Eastern Europe.

Macroeconomic data on mobile money service are scarce. No study to the best of our knowledge has used this macroeconomic mobile money service data before.

Mobile money, a service permitting monetary value to be digitally stored in a mobile phone and transacted to others through text messaging, is increasingly becoming available in several African countries including Eswatini. This study examines the factors associated with mobile money usage and the extent to which mobile money accelerates financial inclusion in Eswatini.

Data were collected from the nationally representative FinScope Consumer Survey for Eswatini conducted in 2014. The authors use a quasi-experimental method in propensity score matching (PSM) with bootstrapped standard errors to alleviate the possibility of selection bias associated with mobile money use and bank account ownership. As a sensitivity check, the authors calculate the average treatment effect (ATE) using kernel-based matching methods, as well as estimate a multilevel model that accounts for the hierarchical structure of data.

The authors found that higher education, entrepreneurship, being female, improvement in work situation in the past year and living in urban area and in the Lubombo region all positively influence the probability to use mobile money. The results also show that individuals who use mobile money are 19% more likely to own a bank account at a formal financial institution with a higher probability estimate observed amongst rural residents.

This study examines whether mobile money accelerates financial inclusion in Eswatini. On analysing data from the 2014 FinScope Consumer Survey, the results show that mobile money does not seem to be accelerating the reach of financial services to those who are structurally excluded from the formal financial system and suggest the need for ongoing review of the financial inclusion strategies of the country to enhance access to financial services in underserved areas.

The peer review history for this article is available at:https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-12-2019-0723

Drawing from the argument that mobile money services have a significant potential to provide a wide range of affordable, convenient and secure financial services, there have been rampant frauds on consumers of financial products over the digital financial platform. Thus, this study aims to establish the mediating effect of digital consumer protection in the relationship between mobile money adoption and usage and financial inclusion with data collected from micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in northern Uganda.

To achieve the main objective of this study, a research model was developed to test for the mediating effect of digital consumer protection in the relationship between mobile money adoption and usage and financial inclusion. The data were collected from MSMEs and structural equation modelling in partial least square (PLS) combined with bootstrap was applied to analyze and test the hypotheses of this study. The direct and indirect effect of mobile money adoption and usage on financial inclusion was tested through digital consumer protection as a mediator variable.

The findings from the PLS-structural equation modelling (SEM) showed that mobile money adoption and usage has both direct and indirect effect on financial inclusion. Moreover, financial inclusion is influenced by both mobile money adoption and usage and digital consumer protection.

The study used partial least square (PLS-SEM) combined with bootstrap confidence intervals through a formative approach to establish the mediating effect of the mediator variable. Hence, it ignored the use of covariance-based SEM and the MedGraph programme. Furthermore, data were collected from samples located in Gulu district, northern Uganda and specifically from MSMEs. This limits generalization of the study findings to other population who also use mobile money services.

Promoters of digital financial services, managers of telecommunication companies, and financial inclusion advocates should consider strengthening the existing digital consumer protection laws on the mobile money platform. A collaborative approach between the mobile network operators, financial institutions and regulators should tighten the existing laws against mobile money fraudsters and an efficient mechanism for recourse, compensation and remedy should be set up to benefit the victims of frauds and cybercrime on the Fintech ecosystem.

The current study gives a useful insight into the critical mediating role of digital consumer protection as a cushion for promoting financial inclusion through mobile phones over the Fintech that face great threat and risk from cyber insecurity.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role of trust and perceived value (PV) in customer intentions to adopt mobile money application (MMA) services. Trust and PV were broken down into various dimensions. This study investigated the two-component base trusts, namely, economic and service, and also PV as an antecedent.

This study involved 402 respondents selected through the interception and online survey approach and had five hypotheses. The structural equation model was used to test the hypothesis of this study.

The findings showed that the PV was related to the customer’s intention to use MMA services and economy-based trust. Trust in service providers and economic-based trust were positively related to customer intentions to use MMA services.

Although the concept of MMA has been explored in several literatures, the role of trust and PV in the use of MMA has not been of much concern among researchers. In addition, this study described PV as a construction with five supporting dimensions. The current literature showed that the integration of PV with construct trust was still lacking in attention from researchers especially the study of MMA.

For practitioners, these findings confirmed that MMA service providers need to convince customers of protection to money and personal information. Also, providers need to ensure that the use of MMA provides cost and time effectiveness. Besides, it is important to ensure the services provided to customers are the fastest way to carry out financial transactions, in this case, including payment and retail purchases. This finding also showed that PV related to MMA services needs to be studied from a customer perspective, focusing on four aspects of ethics, playfulness, customer return of investment and excellent service. Therefore, handling PV in these services requires specific strategies to deal with these various aspects.

This study integrated two dimensions of trust, thus economic trust and service trust, the authors also integrated dimension of PV as the antecedent of two dimensions of trust, to understand the dimension of intention use MMA.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how the prevailing widespread and popular access to mobile phones among Jamaica's poor may be used to support the public policy goal of transitioning these users from mainly voice to more advanced applications, including m‐government, personal educational growth and teleworking, via increased connectivity to mobile internet and other forms of broadband access.

The article analytically reports the findings of two national usage studies of low‐income mobile respondents in Jamaica.

There is a prevailing positive disposition among Jamaicans of all social classes for the use of higher levels of work‐related communications technologies, once these are priced in a manner that make them accessible. This is a strong foundation upon which to build crucial technology links to key business and economic opportunities. Mobiles are potential bridges for low‐income users from their present voice‐dominated usage to higher end applications such as further education, better access to public services and other more intensive work‐related uses.

If made more accessible, mobile internet could help bridge information and education gaps experienced by the financially impoverished majority. More low‐income people could be connected through such simplified protocol platforms as .Mobi and into wider use of M‐services.

The empirical studies indicate for the first time that low income users of mobile phones are not just engaged in idle chatter but have a higher order economic and survival motivation in their patterns and uses of the mobile phone.