Can Digital Inclusive Finance Improve the Financial Performance of SMEs?

Wei Yu, Huiqin Huang (), Xinyan Kong and Keying Zhu
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Wei Yu: Business School, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Huiqin Huang: Business School, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Xinyan Kong: Business School, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China
Keying Zhu: Business School, The University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Ningbo 315100, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-16

Abstract: Our paper takes the sample of listed companies from Shanghai and Shenzhen A-share SMEs and then theoretically analyzes and empirically tests the impact of digital inclusive finance on the financial performance of SMEs. The results show that financial performance of SMEs located in areas with a higher level of digital inclusive finance is significantly higher. Digital inclusive finance can play a role in expanding the scale of innovative investment, reducing the cost of debt financing and improving the ability of risk-taking, thereby strengthening the financial performance of SMEs. Our findings enrich the academic research on the topic of digital inclusive finance from the perspective of SMEs and provide suggestions to the government, banks and SMEs to continually implement the digital inclusive finance policy.

Keywords: digital inclusive finance; financing performance; innovative investment scale; debt-financing cost; risk-taking ability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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