Does financial literacy matter for firms? An empirical investigation on Sri Lankan SMEs

Geesara Kasthuri Arachchi, Ishan Perera, Chathurya Gamage, Shehara Wijesinghe, Krishantha Wisenthige and Nirmani Dayapathirana

PLOS ONE, 2026, vol. 21, issue 7, 1-22

Abstract: Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are vital to economic growth and job creation, especially in developing countries. However, their potential is not fully utilized due to challenges related to limited financial inclusion, poor resource management, and underdeveloped capital markets. Though financial literacy is well-researched in personal finance, its role as a knowledge resource at the firm level and its impact on firm performance remain underexplored. This study investigates the influence of owner-managers’ financial literacy on firm performance, focusing on the mediating roles of FinTech adoption and access to finance. By taking a sample of 264 SME owner-managers in the Western Province of Sri Lanka, this study found that financial literacy significantly enhances firm performance (β = 0.241, p

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0354031 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id= ... 54031&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0354031

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0354031

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS ONE from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosone ().