FinTech Adoption and Financial Inclusion among Small Business Enterprises
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63345/Keywords:
FinTech Adoption, Financial Inclusion, Small Business Enterprises, Digital Financial Services, Machine Learning, Digital Financial LiteracyAbstract
Financial technology has altered how small business enterprises interact with formal financial systems, yet adoption of digital tools does not necessarily translate into substantive financial inclusion. This study develops a multidimensional framework for examining whether the depth and diversity of FinTech adoption, rather than simple adoption status, improve financial inclusion among small business enterprises. The research gap arises from the limited integration of transaction behavior, digital financial capability, financing accessibility, and FinTech diversity within a unified enterprise-level analytical framework. The proposed study conceptualizes FinTech adoption through digital payments, mobile banking, electronic bookkeeping, platform-based financing, and technology-assisted financial management. Financial inclusion is evaluated beyond account ownership by considering active account utilization, formal credit accessibility, digital savings, payment integration, insurance access, and financial resilience. A hybrid empirical framework combining survey-derived indicators, transaction-behavior variables, clustering, and machine-learning classification is proposed to identify heterogeneous inclusion pathways among small enterprises.
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