Bridging the Gap: Exploring the Factors Influencing Women's Adoption of Mobile Financial Services (MFS) in Rural Areas of Bangladesh
Authors: 
Bishal Deb Roy, Sumaia Arefin Ritu, Anika Priodorshinee Mrittika, Jannatun NoorAuthors Info & Claims
Bishal Deb Roy, Sumaia Arefin Ritu, Anika Priodorshinee Mrittika, Jannatun NoorAuthors Info & ClaimsPages 268 - 277
Abstract
In regions where traditional gender norms and limited access to resources have historically posed significant challenges, mobile financial services (MFS) have emerged as a potent instrument for enhancing the economic and social empowerment of women. This study explores the impact of sustainable development on rural Bangladeshi women, with a particular focus on their use of MFS. Through qualitative interviews with 39 participants, including 35 rural women and 4 MFS agents, our research highlights the broader societal implications of women’s increased involvement in economic activities. It also underscores advancements in women’s rights and their growing influence. Along with that, the study acknowledges the presence of persistent obstacles such as unequal pay, limited access to education, and cultural biases that continue to hinder women’s full economic participation, especially in rural settings. Ultimately, our study emphasizes the importance of financial stability and savings for both families and society as a whole.
References
[1]
Salma S Abed. 2021. Women Entrepreneurs’ Adoption of Mobile Applications for Business Sustainability. Sustainability 13, 21 (2021), 11627.
[2]
Irma Adelman and Cynthia Taft Morris. 1967. Society politics & economic development: A quantitative approach. Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, MD.
[3]
Nahid Akhter and MA Baqui Khalily. 2020. An analysis of mobile financial services and financial inclusion in Bangladesh. Indian Journal of Human Development 14, 2 (2020), 213–233.
[4]
Anonymous. 2024. The Rise of Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh. Online. https://businessinspection.com.bd/top-mfs-providers-in-bangladesh/
[5]
Anonymous. 2024. Understanding Sampling Techniques in Qualitative Research. Web Page. https://sago.com/en/resources/blog/different-types-of-sampling-techniques-in-qualitative-research/ Accessed: 2024-05-19.
[6]
Bangladesh Bank. Accessed: September 9, 2023. Bangladesh Bank. https://www.bb.org.bd/en/index.php
[7]
[7] bKash. 2011. https://www.bkash.com/en/about. Accessed: 2024-3-11.
[8]
Ester Boserup. 1989. Population, the status of women, and rural development. Population and development review 15 (1989), 45–60.
[9]
Mayra Buvinić and Rebecca Furst-Nichols. 2016. Promoting women’s economic empowerment: what works?The World Bank Research Observer 31, 1 (2016), 59–101.
[10]
Gregor Dorfleitner and Quynh Anh Nguyen. 2022. Mobile money for women’s economic empowerment: the mediating role of financial management practices. Review of Managerial Science 1 (2022), 1–30.
[11]
Esther Duflo. 2012. Women empowerment and economic development. Journal of Economic literature 50, 4 (2012), 1051–1079.
[12]
Imane Elouardighi and Kenza Oubejja. 2023. Can Digital Financial Inclusion Promote Women’s Labor Force Participation? Microlevel Evidence from Africa. International Journal of Financial Studies 11, 3 (2023), 87.
[13]
Diana Fletschner and Lisa Kenney. 2014. Rural women’s access to financial services: credit, savings, and insurance. Springer, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
[14]
Jim Frost. 2014. Stratified Sampling: Definition, Advantages & Examples. https://statisticsbyjim.com/basics/stratified-sampling/. Accessed: 2024-5-20.
[15]
Mohammed Shakhawat Hossain and Aminul Haque Russel. 2017. Picture of the Socio-Economic Development of Rural People of Bangladesh through Mobile Financial Services-a study on bkash. European Journal of Business and Management 9, 36 (2017), 78–93.
[16]
Samia Ibtasam, Lubna Razaq, Haider W. Anwar, Hamid Mehmood, Kushal Shah, Jennifer Webster, Neha Kumar, and Richard Anderson. 2018. Knowledge, Access, and Decision-Making: Women’s Financial Inclusion In Pakistan. In Proceedings of the 1st ACM SIGCAS Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies (Menlo Park and San Jose, CA, USA) (COMPASS ’18). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 22, 12 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3209811.3209819
[17]
A. T. M. Hasibul Islam, Syed Abul Basher, and A. K. Enamul Haque. 2022. The impact of mobile money on long-term poverty: evidence from Bangladesh. Journal of Social and Economic Development 24 (2022), 436–455. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40847-022-00194-0
[18]
M Sirajul Islam and Åke Grönlund. 2011. Digital Bangladesh–a change we can believe in?. In Electronic Government and the Information Systems Perspective: Second International Conference, EGOVIS 2011, Toulouse, France, August 29–September 2, 2011. Proceedings 2. Springer, DBLP, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden, 107–121.
[19]
Ritika Jain. 2021. Information and Communication Technology Adoption and the Demand for Female Labor: The Case of Indian Industry. The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy 21, 2 (2021), 695–722.
[20]
Md Rizvi Khan and Sirion Chaipoopirutana. 2021. Factors Influencing Users’ Behavioral Intention to Reuse Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh. In Factors Influencing Users’ Behavioral Intention to Reuse Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh: Khan, Md. Rizvi| uChaipoopirutana, Sirion. [Sl]: SSRN, Bangkok, Thailand.
[21]
Dhanonjoy Kumar. 2022. Prospects and challenges of mobile financial services (MFS) in Bangladesh. IGI Global, Hershey, PA, 320–341. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-9035-5.ch017
[22]
Alex Leonardo. 2009. Line Intercept Sampling (LIS). https://www.statisticshowto.com/line-intercept-sampling/. Accessed: 2024-5-20.
[23]
Prajna Paramita Saha Rama Rani Sutradhar Md Golzare Nabi, Md. Sanaullah Talukder. 2012. Mobile financial services in Bangladesh: An overview of market development. Bangladesh Bank, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
[24]
[24] Nagad. 2019. https://nagad.com.bd/pg/?n=about-nagad. Accessed: 2024-3-11.
[25]
Mst Shamsun Naher, Md Mithu Rana, Asha Siddika, Sharmin Akter, and Sazin Islam. 2020. Women and Sustainable Development: Bangladesh Perspective. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science 25, 6 (06 2020), 8–18. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-2506110818
[26]
Abbas Uddin Noyon. 2023. The digital money magic in rural economy. https://www.tbsnews.net/economy/digital-money-magic-rural-economy-754058 Last modified: 10 December, 2023, 05:32 pm.
[27]
Shahnaj Parveen and I Leonhäuser. 2005. Empowerment of rural women in Bangladesh: A household level analysis. Abstracts of German Tropentag, Humbold-University, Berlin, 5.-7 72 (01 2005).
[28]
Yu Peng, Xiaobing Peng, Mingze Yin, Jiaxin He, and Li Ma. 2023. The welfare effects of impoverished rural areas: Review and research prospects. Heliyon 9, 9 (2023), e19513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e19513
[29]
Richard C Porter. 1966. The promotion of the banking habit and economic development. The Journal of Development Studies 2, 4 (1966), 346–366.
[30]
Mehadi Rahman. 2021. The rural users challenges with mobile financial services (MFS) in Bangladesh. Asian Journal of Management 12, 4 (2021), 359–366.
[31]
[31] Rocket. 2011. https://www.dutchbanglabank.com/rocket/rocket.html. Accessed: 2024-3-11.
[32]
Saiful Islam Salim, Najla Abdulrahman Al-Nabhan, Masfiqur Rahaman, Nafisa Islam, Tarik Reza Toha, Jannatun Noor, Adnan Quaium, Aaiyeesha Mostak, Mainul Hossain, Md Masum Mushfiq, 2021. Human-survey interaction (HSI): A study on integrity of human data collectors in a mass-scale Hajj pilgrimage survey. IEEE Access 9 (2021), 112528–112551.
[33]
Joseph A Schumpeter and Richard Swedberg. 2021. The theory of economic development. Routledge, Abingdon, UK.
[34]
Aijaz A Shaikh, Richard Glavee-Geo, Heikki Karjaluoto, and Robert Ebo Hinson. 2018. How is the use of mobile money services transforming lives in Ghana? In Marketing and Mobile Financial Services. Routledge, London, 256–280.
[35]
Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam and Mohammad Tareq. 2017. A Study on the Macro Economic Antecedents and Trends of Mobile Banking Services in Bangladesh. Springer, Heidelberg, Germany, 1495–1503.
[36]
[36] Upay. 2021. https://www.upaybd.com/who-we-are. Accessed: 2024-3-11.
[37]
Aditya Vashistha, Richard Anderson, and Shrirang Mare. 2019. Examining the use and non-use of mobile payment systems for merchant payments in India. In Proceedings of the 2nd ACM SIGCAS Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies (Accra, Ghana) (COMPASS ’19). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1145/3314344.3332499
[38]
Shamima Yesmin, Tonmoy Ananda Paul, and Md Mohshin Uddin. 2019. bKash: Revolutionizing mobile financial services in Bangladesh?Springer, Singapore, 125–148.
Index Terms
- Bridging the Gap: Exploring the Factors Influencing Women's Adoption of Mobile Financial Services (MFS) in Rural Areas of Bangladesh
Index terms have been assigned to the content through auto-classification.
Recommendations
Women's inclusion in digital Bangladesh
ICTD '15: Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and DevelopmentThis study argues that enabling policy environments on ICT instituted by the Government of Bangladesh over the past six years may not have necessarily improved digital inclusion, particularly with respect to women. Rather, the digital inclusion of women ...
Women in Rural Bangladesh: Empowered by Access to Mobile Phones
ICEGOV '15-16: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic GovernanceMobile phones are seen as a means for social and economic progress in rural and remote areas of developing countries. In Bangladesh the availability and use of information and communication technology (ICT), particularly mobile phones, is thought to ...
Domestication of Telecentres by Malawian Rural Women
The potential of telecentres to bridge the digital divide can only be realised when their services are appropriated by all groups in the community. Previous studies show that in Malawi only a few women use telecentres. This article used Domestication ...
Comments
Information & Contributors
Information
Published In
July 2024
354 pages
ISBN:9798400710483
DOI:10.1145/3674829
Copyright © 2024 ACM.
Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].
Sponsors
Publisher
Association for Computing Machinery
New York, NY, United States
Publication History
Published: 28 August 2024
Check for updates
Author Tags
Qualifiers
- Short-paper
- Research
- Refereed limited
Conference
COMPASS '24: ACM SIGCAS/SIGCHI Conference on Computing and Sustainable Societies
July 8 - 11, 2024
New Delhi, India
Acceptance Rates
Overall Acceptance Rate 25 of 50 submissions, 50%
Contributors
Other Metrics
Bibliometrics & Citations
Bibliometrics
Article Metrics
- 0Total Citations
- 40Total Downloads
- Downloads (Last 12 months)40
- Downloads (Last 6 weeks)30
Reflects downloads up to 22 Oct 2024
Other Metrics
Citations
View Options
Get Access
Login options
Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.
Sign inFull Access
View options
View or Download as a PDF file.
PDFeReader
View online with eReader.
eReaderHTML Format
View this article in HTML Format.
HTML Format