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This paper aims to measure the extent of digital financial inclusion (DFI) and examine the effect of socioeconomic characteristics on using government remittances and the adoption of digital financial services (DFS) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The World Bank Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) database 2021 is used in this study, with a sample size of 3,000 Indian individuals. The study measured the demand-side analysis of DFI, namely, accessibility and usage of DFS with selected socioeconomic characteristics such as gender, age, income, education, being in the workforce and residential status of respondents. The dependent variable is binary in nature; therefore, the logistic regression model is used for the data analysis.

The results of the study reveal that individuals’ socioeconomic factors, such as female, all the age groups, tertiary education, third- and fourth-income quintile and workforce, are found to have a significant association with “accessibility,” an exogenous variable of DFS. Besides, respondents’ socioeconomic attributes, namely, female, tertiary education, income for all quintiles and workforce, are more likely to use DFSs in the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also finds the residential status of individuals is influencing the accessibility and usage of DFS.

The findings of the study provide valuable insights to the service providers and policymakers regarding the rapid expansion of DFS by digital infrastructure, simplifying the banking procedures and highlighting the importance of digital financial literacy to accomplish government goals through serving the unbanked population and also design strategies for achieving the objectives of Digital India: “Faceless, Paperless, and Cashless” of DFI across the country.

Notable studies used World Bank Findex survey data to explore the determinants of financial inclusion in general. This research is one among the few studies to explore the determinants of India’s DFI. Moreover, this study measured the effect of individual socioeconomic attributes on the adoption of DFSs during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has not been included in prior studies. Therefore, this study has added value to the existing literature on financial technology innovation and DFS for the sustainable development of emerging nations.

The study assesses the relationship between institutional credit access and farmer satisfaction using contextual mediating and moderating variables. This study identifies various socioeconomic, service features and service quality determinants impacting institutional credit access.

The authors used the stratified random sampling method and selected 512 farmers from 40 villages in Maharashtra, India. Initially, the study employed probit regression analysis to identify the credit adoption determinants. Subsequently, the relationship between institutional credit and farmer satisfaction is identified through moderated-mediation analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and Analysis of a Moment Structures (SPSS - AMOS model).

Probit model's results suggest that socioeconomic variables like education and bank distance; service quality variables like prompt service and employee behavior; and service characteristics variables like the interest rate, loan sanction time, repayment period, and documents for loan application significantly affect institutional credit adoption across the smallholders. Subsequently, the results of the moderating-mediation analysis show that working capital, perceived value and risk perception partially mediate the association between credit adoption and farmer satisfaction. The mediated effects are further moderated by farm advisory services and financial knowledge and skills.

The study is restricted in opportunity due to primary data, and it considers only farmers' perspectives to measure service quality and service features as constraints for institutional credit access.

The government, nongovernment organizations, civil societies and private institutions should provide sufficient financial knowledge and training to the farmers via extension services to utilize the borrowed capital effectively to bring economic welfare and mental satisfaction.

The existing literature rarely considered banking service quality and service features (demand side) variables as determinants of credit access. Further, the study brings novelty in examining how the capital management cognitive factors of the formal credit adopters influence the relationship between credit access and satisfaction.

To investigate the role of social factors, health status, and psychiatric disorders (DSM-III-R) on mental health services use, we utilized the National Comorbidity Survey (NCS), a nationally representative household survey (1990–1992) of the US (n=5877). Multivariate logistic regression allowed estimation of the adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals on the likelihood of visiting the health or the specialty mental/addictive service sectors. Significant determinants included: gender, race, household income, work status, and quality of community-level health care resources. Those with greater socioeconomic resources or comorbid psychiatric disorders were more likely to visit the specialty mental health sector.

Citizens are substantial stakeholders in every e-government system, thus their willingness to use and ability to access the system are critical. Unequal access and information and communication technology usage, which is known as digital divide, however has been identified as one of the major obstacles to the implementation of e-government system. As digital divide inhibits citizen’s acceptance to e-government, it should be overcome despite the lack of deep theoretical understanding on this issue. This research aimed to investigate the digital divide and its direct impact on e-government system success of local governments in Indonesia as well as indirect impact through the mediation role of trust. In order to get a comprehensive understanding of digital divide, this study introduced a new type of digital divide, the innovativeness divide.

The research problems were approached by applying two-stage sequential mixed method research approach comprising of both qualitative and quantitative studies. In the first phase, an initial research model was proposed based on a literature review. Semi-structured interview with 12 users of e-government systems was then conducted to explore and enhance this initial research model. Data collected in this phase were analyzed with a two-stage content analysis approach and the initial model was then amended based on the findings. As a result, a comprehensive research model with 16 hypotheses was proposed for examination in the second phase.

In the second phase, quantitative method was applied. A questionnaire was developed based on findings in the first phase. A pilot study was conducted to refine the questionnaire, which was then distributed in a national survey resulting in 237 useable responses. Data collected in this phase were analyzed using Partial Least Square based Structural Equation Modeling.

The results of quantitative analysis confirmed 13 hypotheses. All direct influences of the variables of digital divide on e-government system success were supported. The mediating effects of trust in e-government in the relationship between capability divide and e-government system success as well as in the relationship between innovativeness divide and e-government system success were supported, but was rejected in the relationship between access divide and e-government system success. Furthermore, the results supported the moderating effects of demographic variables of age, residential place, and education.

This research has both theoretical and practical contributions. The study contributes to the developments of literature on digital divide and e-government by providing a more comprehensive framework, and also to the implementation of e-government by local governments and the improvement of e-government Readiness Index of Indonesia.

Oral health is a major public health problem, both in developed and developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to examine the utilization of dental care and identify the main socioeconomic factors affecting the use of these services in the city of Sanandaj, west of Iran, in 2015.

A cross-sectional survey using multistage sampling was conducted to obtain information on the dental care visits of 520 head of households in Sanandaj. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on the utilization of dental visits. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify the main socioeconomic factors affecting the utilization of dental care in Sanandaj.

Results showed that 61.3 percent of the respondents visited a dentist at least once in the last year, of which 45 percent visited dentist for restoration, 27.9 percent had extraction and 10.3 percent had a dental checkup. The average number of dentist visits by respondents was 1.9. Regression results indicated a significant association between socioeconomic factors (e.g. income, educational level and employment status) and utilization of dental care.

This study suggested that dental care visit was influenced by socioeconomic status of households. Therefore, strategies aimed at improving dental care utilization for socioeconomically disadvantaged households (e.g. dental health insurance) are required to promote oral health among socioeconomically disadvantaged groups.

At the beginning of the 21st century, multiple and diverse social entities, including the public (consumers), private and nonprofit healthcare institutions, government (public health) and other industry sectors, began to recognize the limitations of the current fragmented healthcare system paradigm. Primary stakeholders, including employers, insurance companies, and healthcare professional organizations, also voiced dissatisfaction with unacceptable health outcomes and rising costs. Grand challenges and wicked problems threatened the viability of the health sector. American health systems responded with innovations and advances in healthcare delivery frameworks that encouraged shifts from intra- and inter-sector arrangements to multi-sector, lasting relationships that emphasized patient centrality along with long-term commitments to sustainability and accountability. This pathway, leading to a population health approach, also generated the need for transformative business models. The coproduction of health framework, with its emphasis on cross-sector alignments, nontraditional partner relationships, sustainable missions, and accountability capable of yielding return on investments, has emerged as a unique strategy for facing disruptive threats and challenges from nonhealth sector corporations. This chapter presents a coproduction of health framework, goals and criteria, examples of boundary spanning network alliance models, and operational (integrator, convener, aggregator) strategies. A comparison of important organizational science theories, including institutional theory, network/network analysis theory, and resource dependency theory, provides suggestions for future research directions necessary to validate the utility of the coproduction of health framework as a precursor for paradigm change.

This paper aims to explore the determinants of citizens’ future use of mobile applications provided by government. Research on citizen-initiated contacts with government has focused on both non-technology and technology related contacts. Existing research, however, has not examined the impact of mobile applications or “apps” on citizen-initiated contacts with government. Furthermore, existing research has not examined satisfaction with mobile government and whether this impacts future use.

The authors examine future use of mobile apps through an empirical analysis of a public opinion survey of citizen users in four of the largest cities in China (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen).

Using ordered logistic regression analysis, this study found that the strongest predictors of future use were demand and satisfaction with mobile apps. However, there was no wide-scale evidence of socioeconomic status and age impacting mobile apps future use.

The findings in this study contribute to both theory and practice of the determinants of mobile government adoption.

The results challenge the citizen-initiated contact theory, as socioeconomic status was not a major predictor of mobile apps future use in China. The results further indicate that satisfaction was a good predictor of mobile apps future use.

Does MFIs agricultural credit influence the determinants of the efficiency of SFF which are socio-economic factors of the farmers but also agricultural endowments of family farms? This paper aims to study the contribution of MFI services on improving the technical efficiency of SFFs in Cameroon.

The stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) model permits the estimation of the technical efficiency indicators for beneficiaries and nonbeneficiaries of agricultural credits on a sample of 130 cocoa farming households and four MFIs of the same area between 2008 and 2011. The censored tobit model is used to assess the determinants of technical efficiency.

The results show that the SFF beneficiaries of agricultural credit have an average technical efficiency of 0.68 inferior to that of nonbeneficiaries (0.72) as expected. They are, respectively, at 0.32 and 0.28 of their full productive capacities. The results of the censored Tobit model show that socioeconomic characteristics of the producer such as age and gender explain negatively, while experience explains positively the technical efficiency of SFFs.

Although without any selectivity bias, this study indicates the essential character of the socioeconomic factors in the amplification of the role of the MFIs credit on the efficiency of SFFs.

Strategies to improve the efficiency of SFFs require an increase in MFI credits, primarily targeting young, experienced and female farmers.

This study examines the efficiency of SFFs by highlighting the interaction between the socio-economic factors of farmers and the credit of MFIs. It also points to the problem of monitoring the implementation of agricultural financing.

Financial protection of households against catastrophic healthcare expenditure (CHE) is defined as one of the main goals in health systems. The purpose of this paper is to measure and decompose socioeconomic inequality in CHE among households in Kermanshah province, Western of Iran.

This cross-sectional study was carried out among 1,188 households in 2017. Data were extracted from the Household Income and Expenditure Survey which is conducted by the Statistical Center of Iran. The CHE is defined as household healthcare expenditure greater than or equal to the 40 percent of household’s “capacity to pay.” The concentration curve and the Wagstaff (W) and Erreygers (E) indexes were used to illustrate and measure the extent of socioeconomic inequality in CHE. In addition, the authors decomposed the W and E indexes to identify the main determinants of socioeconomic inequality in CHE.

The results indicated that the prevalence of CHE among households was 4.12 percent (95% confidence interval (CI): 3.13 to 5.42 percent). The estimated value of the W and E indexes were −0.2849 (95% CI: −0.4493 to −0.1205) and −0.0451 (95% CI: −0.0712 to −0.0190), respectively; suggesting the concentration of CHE prevalence among the poor households. Decomposition analyses indicated socioeconomic status as the most important factor contributing to the concentration of CHE among the poor. In contrast, health insurance coverage was found to increase the concentration of CHE among the rich in Iran.

The current study demonstrated a higher concentration of CHE among the poor households in Kermanshah province. These results call for the government’s efforts to reduce healthcare expenditure among socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. Further studies are required to understand the mechanisms through which health insurance coverage increased the probability of CHE among rich in Kermanshah province.