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Premised on the assertion that financial digitalization is currently the panacea and game changer in delivering progress towards the sustainable development goals (SDGs) through universal financial inclusion, especially in developing countries, the purpose of this paper is to establish the moderating effect of transaction tax exemptions in the relationship between mobile money adoption and usage and financial inclusion.

A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 379 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which use mobile money services drawn from the Northern District of Gulu in Uganda to provide responses for this study. The predictive relevancy and the effect size of the model were determined by running partial least square algorithm through structural equation model (SEM) with 5,000 bootstrap samples in SmartPLS-SEM 3.0.

The findings indicated that all the latent variables of transaction tax exemptions showed significant and positive impact on mobile money adoption and usage to advance financial inclusion in developing countries. Moreover, when combined together, the overall SEM predictive model revealed a significant moderating effect of transaction tax exemptions in the relationship between mobile money adoption and usage and financial inclusion. This implies that transaction tax exemptions on digital financial innovations such as the mobile money services can stimulate economic growth through increased level of financial inclusion labeled as the main enabler in achieving the SDGs by the year 2030.

Whereas data were collected from users of mobile money services, the samples were drawn specifically from MSMEs’ owners located in the Northern District of Gulu in Uganda. Thus, users located in other districts were not included in the sample for this study. Similarly, this study limited itself to only financial services offered through the mobile money platform. It ignored other digital financial channels such as the internet and electronic banking.

Going forward, in order to improve the economic well-being of households at the “bottom of the pyramid,” governments in developing countries should embrace the significant role of transaction tax exemptions in promoting digital financial innovations such as the mobile money services for increased level of financial inclusion. The governments in developing countries where mobile money has greatly spurred financial inclusion should not only reduce the existing transaction taxes on mobile money services but scrap it off in order to champion progressive increase in the level of universal financial inclusion prescribed as a key enabler in eliminating global poverty, especially in developing countries.

This study hints on the moderating effect of transaction tax exemptions in the relationship between mobile money adoption and usage and financial inclusion. The paradox in the current trends on transaction taxes on mobile money services, especially in developing countries remain a dearth in the nascent global FINTECH ecosystem.

The Kenyan government’s announcement of a new 10 percent tax in March 2013 threatened the future prospects of M-Pesa, Safaricom’s mobile money transfer service, which had revolutionized the way money moved in Kenya. The new tax would be levied on all cash transfers but was largely targeted at M-Pesa, which controlled around 80 percent of the cash transfer market. In response to the new tax, Safaricom, the mobile communications market leader, announced a 10 percent price increase.

The case presents the structure Safaricom established in order to develop a mobile money transfer service in Kenya. As a concept, M-Pesa was unprecedented in Kenya: prospective customers had to get comfortable with the idea that a mobile communications company could provide a payment system, that transactions could be initiated through a mobile phone, and that nonbank outlets could provide cash-in/cash-out services. Even when the concept was accepted, however, customers needed a convenient network of agents to handle transactions, and stores needed to see demand from customers in order to be motivated to become agent outlets. Thus, in order to grow, M-Pesa needed to aggressively pursue and acquire both customers and agents in this two-sided market.

• Understand the complexity of pricing in two-sided markets

• Evaluate the profitability of different pricing strategies in two-sided markets

• Understand the effect of an innovation on the creation and capture of value

• Identify possible threats to competitive advantage in two-sided markets as well as in developing countries

• Understand the value of co-opetition and how cooperation with competitors and complementors can increase a company’s profitability

Understand the complexity of pricing in two-sided markets

Evaluate the profitability of different pricing strategies in two-sided markets

Understand the effect of an innovation on the creation and capture of value

Identify possible threats to competitive advantage in two-sided markets as well as in developing countries

Understand the value of co-opetition and how cooperation with competitors and complementors can increase a company’s profitability

This study investigates the possible effect of mobile money services, which forms part of FinTech, in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This study uses field data from the Chongwe district of Zambia. The data were collected in 2019.

The findings strongly suggest that (1) the factors that hinder access to credit and savings by the poor do not simply recede following the adoption of mobile money services and (2) that mobile money is not a silver bullet of ending financial exclusion but merely a tool which contributes to other financial inclusion strategies.

This study argues that mobile money is winning the battle but losing the war – implying that the service is mainly used to transfer funds (OTC transactions) among users.

This is the first study to have been conducted in Zambia to assess the possible contributing effect of FinTech (mobile money) on SDGs.

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.

Even if digital financial services have a positive impact on financial inclusion, it creates a digital as well as gender divide within and across countries, creating regional disparity even within developing nations. Though pandemic has initiated digitalization of various services, there has been scanty research on whether digital transfer of income can improve digital financial inclusion in post-pandemic era, especially in developing countries. The purpose of the current study is to explain the regional disparity within developing countries from three regions East Asia Pacific, South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, using latest World Findex data, 2021.

The author takes an instrumental variable approach to run bivariate probit model to find the factors that motivate the users to make digital payments.

The study observes that electronic transfer of wages, government transfers and remittances can motivate individuals to make use of digital mode of transactions and mobile. The practice of formal saving and borrowings are the prerequisites. However, this mechanism holds good for East Asia Pacific and not for South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, which are poor in information and communication technology infrastructure. Women are lagging behind men, but digital transfer of wages motivate them to make digital transaction.

Digitalization of all government services and provision of affordable mobile network and internet services are necessary for regions like South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. In East Asia Pacific region, data protection, data governance and better regulatory framework are required. Higher female labor force participation with digital transfer of wages and empowerment with smartphones are key to reducing the Gender gap.

The current study corrects for the possible endogeneity issue, which the extant literature has not paid attention to, and provides region-specific and gender-specific policy recommendations for an improved digital inclusion.

The purpose of the study was to explore the intention of micro and small enterprises’ (MSEs) owners to adopt digital technologies as a strategy to catalyze sustainable growth of Uganda's economy.

This study adopted a qualitative, multi-case design. The unit of inquiry consisted of business owners operating in St. Balikuddembe Market, Kampala, Uganda. They were interrogated to explore their intention to adopt digital technologies during the total lockdown as a strategy to sustainably operate their businesses.

A total of four major themes emerged from the data analysis process and these are the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on business operations, awareness of digital technologies, usage of digital technologies and intention to use more digital technologies.

The findings of the study shed light on what policymakers, digital service providers and business owners can do to improve uptake of digital technologies among MSEs in Uganda.

This study contributes to the extant literature on digital technologies in MSEs using evidence from Uganda's informal sector. The results of the study may catalyze uptake of digital technologies as policymakers and digital service providers will devise appropriate strategies that will enable business owners to integrate these technologies into their business operations.

The paper aims to explore the long-term prospects of mobile broadband adoption in a developing country. The supply-side and demand-side policy measures are recommended to counter the challenges to broadband adoption.

Methodologically, this study uses document analysis to explain secondary data including growth statistics, trade literature and previous scholarly research. Based on the growth statistics of broadband and the informed market insights, the research discusses the prevailing market threats and recommends counter measures to improve the long-term prospects of broadband propagation.

The growth of mobile broadband is settling down in Pakistan due to various barriers like cost, literacy, security and unavailability of local content. Collaborative efforts are required by the government, the service providers and the people to enhance the adoption of broadband service and secure economic benefits of the broadband.

The research offers useful implications for managers and policymakers in Asian and African developing countries; the policy measures discussed here may serve as guidelines for them in the design of their own policies regarding broadband supply and demand.

The study makes an effort to examine the broadband growth in a developing country on the basis of both quantitative and qualitative aspects. The research endeavors to fill the gap on the particular scholarship of research covering potential uptake of broadband services and the effects of constraining elements to broadband adoption in a developing country.

This study aims to offer a comprehensive review of mobile payment (m-payment) research in hospitality and tourism.

This study systematically reviews 105 m-payment-themed publications retrieved from five research engines including EBSCOhost, Google Scholar, Web of Science, ScienceDirect and Scopus. Content analysis is used to draw insights from the articles.

Results show that research on m-payment in hospitality and tourism is generally categorized into consumer, supplier and policy dimensions. This study proposes a framework to summarize the demand–supply research standpoints and conditions that qualify research outcomes while providing contemporary policy-related discussions. Four research priorities for future studies are recommended.

Knowledge accumulation and policy-related discussions identified in this study equip practitioners with the opportunities and challenges brought by m-payment. This study provides recommendations according to the factors that drive adoption of m-payment.

This study addresses the academic gaps by critically analyzing m-payment research in hospitality and tourism and identifying four research priorities for future studies.