Share:


Social responsibility of green microfinance institutions: A tool for promoting women’s economic empowerment in China

    Jiuzheng Pei Affiliation

Abstract

Economic freedom has central importance among the nations, however, Chinese economic freedom index declining continuously, leading to the several issues. Particularly, economic freedom is low among the Chinese female population. The world average of economic freedom index in 2022 based on 175 countries is 60 index points, but the Chinese index is 48. To address this issue, this study introduced green microfinance institutions based on Mayoux’s Feminist Empowerment Theory. The objective of this study is to examine the role of green microfinance institutions in women economic freedom in China. A survey questionnaire is used to collect data from female clients of microfinance institutions. 315 respondents responded to the survey and data analysis is carried out by using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Results of the study identified that, green microfinance institution’s services such as credit and insurance can facilitate green micro enterprises. The promotion of green micro enterprises causes to increase women economic security, leading to the economic freedom. Additionally, green microfinance policy is a critical factor to promote the positive relationship between green microfinance institution’s services and women economic freedom. Findings of this are helpful for the practitioners to increase women economic freedom in China by providing various services of green microfinance institutions.


First published online 18 March 2024

Keyword : economic freedom, microfinance institutions, credit, insurance, green microfinance policy, green micro enterprises

How to Cite
Pei, J. (2024). Social responsibility of green microfinance institutions: A tool for promoting women’s economic empowerment in China. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 30(4), 876–898. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2024.20781
Published in Issue
May 29, 2024
Abstract Views
692
PDF Downloads
528
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Abedin, J., & Khan, T. (2018). The nexus between green microfinance and triple bottom line concept from the context of a developing nation: A literature review. AIUB Journal of Business and Economics, 15(1), 143–158. http://116.206.57.42/index.php/ajbe/article/view/48

Abdur Rouf, K. (2012). Green microfinance promoting green enterprise development. Humanomics, 28(2), 148–161. https://doi.org/10.1108/08288661211228906

Abu, N. (2019). Inflation and unemployment trade-off: A re-examination of the Phillips curve and its stability in Nigeria. Contemporary Economics, 13(1), 21–34. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3384052

Abubakari, Y. (2021). The reasons, impacts and limitations of cybercrime policies in Anglophone West Africa: A review. Social Space, 21(1), 137–158.

Abulela, M. A., & Davenport Jr, E. C. (2020). Measurement Invariance of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory-(LASSI-II) across gender and discipline in Egyptian college students. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 20(2), 32–49. https://doi.org/10.12738/jestp.2020.2.003

Afthanorhan, W. (2013). A comparison of partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and covariance based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) for confirmatory factor analysis. International Journal of Engineering Science and Innovative Technology, 2(5), 198–205.

Ahmed, R., Streimikiene, D., Channar, Z., Soomro, D. R., & Streimikis, J. (2021). E-banking customer satisfaction and loyalty: Evidence from serial mediation through modified E-S-QUAL model and second-order PLS-SEM. Engineering Economics, 32(5), 407–421. https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.32.5.28997

Akadırı, S. S., Alola, A. A., & Usman, O. (2021). Energy mix outlook and the EKC hypothesis in BRICS countries: A perspective of economic freedom vs. economic growth. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 28(7), 8922–8926. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11964-w

Akula, S. C., & Singh, P. (2022). Influence of microfinance on women entrepreneurship: The mediating role of Women Economic Security and moderating role of Previous Work Experience. Cuadernos de Economía, 45(127), 59–69.

Alam, K., Rahman, M. H., & Uddin, M. S. (2017). Green microcredit-assisted microenterprises in a wetland area of Bangladesh and its implications for women’s empowerment and ecological sustainability. In Financial inclusion for poverty alleviation (pp. 216–239). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.9774/gleaf.9781315103457_14

Alarcón, D., & Sánchez, J. A. (2015, October). Assessing convergent and discriminant validity in the ADHD-R IV rating scale: User-written commands for Average Variance Extracted (AVE), Composite Reliability (CR), and Heterotrait-Monotrait ratio of correlations (HTMT) [Meeting presentation]. Spanish STATA Meeting. www.stata.com/meeting/spain15/abstracts/materials/spain15_alarcon.pdf

Albert, J.-F., & Gómez-Fernández, N. (2020). Is the Eurozone an optimal area to suppress cash? An analysis on financial inclusion and the use of cash. Spanish Journal of Economics and Finance, 43(121), 1–16.

Alcaráz-Ibañez, M., Sicilia, Á., & Lirola, M. J. (2020). Physical social anxiety and addiction to exercise: Analysis of the mediating role of basic psychological needs. Journal of Sport Psychology, 29(3), 24–33. https://rpd-online.com/index.php/rpd/issue/view/3/1

Ali, A., Ramakrishnan, S., Faisal, F., & Ullah, Z. (2023). Bibliometric analysis of global research trends on microfinance institutions and microfinance: Suggesting new research agendas. International Journal of Finance & Economics, 28(4), 3552–3573. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.2607

Asad, A., Hameed, W. U., Irfan, M., Jiang, J., & Naveed, R. T. (2020). The contribution of microfinance institutes in women-empowerment and role of vulnerability. Revista Argentina de Clínica Psicológica, 29(3), 223–238.

Aslam, J., Saleem, A., Khan, N. T., & Kim, Y. B. (2021). Factors influencing blockchain adoption in supply chain management practices: A study based on the oil industry. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 6(2), 124–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2021.01.002

Bakota, I. (2020). “Diamond Stage” in Sino-Croatian relations. Croatian International Relations Review, 26(86), 156–176. https://doi.org/10.37173/cirr.26.86.6

Ballestar, M. T., Camiña, E., Díaz-Chao, Á., & Torrent-Sellens, J. (2021). Productivity and employment effects of digital complementarities. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 6(3), 177–190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2020.10.006

Bari, M. W., Mahmood, F., Qurrah-tul-ain, Bashir, M., & Usman, M. (2021). The role of instrumental guanxi in the relation between entrepreneurs’ social competence and firms’ financial performance: A comparative study. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, 34(1), 243–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2020.1782244

Basco, R., Hair Jr, J. F., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2022). Advancing family business research through modeling nonlinear relationships: Comparing PLS-SEM and multiple regression. Journal of Family Business Strategy, 13(3), Article 100457. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfbs.2021.100457

Belwal, R., Tamiru, M., & Singh, G. (2012). Microfinance and sustained economic improvement: Women small‐scale entrepreneurs in Ethiopia. Journal of International Development, 24(S1), S84–S99. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.1782

Bernard, D. K., Kevin, L. L. T., & Khin, A. A. (2016). Entrepreneurial success through microfinance services among women entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka: A pilot study and overview of the findings. International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 6(3), 1144–1150. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/ijefi/issue/32012/353807

Braičić, Z. (2021). The influence of demogeographic development on spatial contents and models of primary education in Istria. Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja, 34(1), 21–38. https://doi.org/10.1080/1331677X.2020.1751672

Brookes, G. (2020). Glyphosate use in asia and implications of possible restrictions on its use. AgBioForum, 22(1), 1–26. https://agroavances.com/img/publicacion_documentos/v22n1-brookes.pdf

Bruneckiene, J., Mikalonis, S., & Rapsikevičius, J. (2020). The interaction between ownership concentration and market risk in European, American and Chinese markets: The effects of BREXIT. Engineering Economics, 31(5), 502–512. https://doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.31.5.25997

Brüntrup, G. (2021). Job’s final insight, narratives, and the brain. European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 13(4). https://doi.org/10.24204/ejpr.2021.3746

Cernikova, M., & Hyblerová, Š. (2021). Tax support evaluation for R&D activities of companies. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 27(5), 1057–1071. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2021.15147

Chen, J., & Hu, M. (2021). City-level hukou-based labor market discrimination and migrant entrepreneurship in China. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 27(5), 1095–1118. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2021.15006

Cheng, C., Porter, E., Bowman, D., & Kabare, M. (2022). Drivers of women’s economic security in Seymour: A background paper for the Sustaining Economic Empowerment and Dignity for Women (SEED) project.

Cheston, S., & Kuhn, L. (2002). Empowering women through microfinance. Draft, Opportunity International, 64, 1–64.

de Oliveira Leite, R., dos Santos Mendes, L., & de Lacerda Moreira, R. (2020). Profit status of microfinance institutions and incentives for earnings management. Research in International Business and Finance, 54, Article 101255. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2020.101255

Demir, S. (2020). The role of self-efficacy in job satisfaction, organizational commitment, motivation and job involvement. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research, 20(85), 205–224. https://doi.org/10.14689/ejer.2020.85.10

Duan, C., Zhou, Y., Cai, Y., Gong, W., Zhao, C., & Ai, J. (2022). Investigate the impact of human capital, economic freedom and governance performance on the economic growth of the BRICS. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 35(4/5), 1323–1347. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEIM-04-2021-0179

Duncanson, C. (2019). Beyond liberal vs liberating: Women’s economic empowerment in the United Nations’ Women, Peace and Security agenda. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 21(1), 111–130. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2018.1518725

Gilman, C. P. (2022). Women and economics: A study of the economic relation between men and women as a factor in social evolution. University of California Press.

Goodell, J. W., Goyal, A., & Hasan, I. (2020). Comparing financial transparency between for-profit and nonprofit suppliers of public goods: Evidence from microfinance. Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, 64, Article 101146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intfin.2019.101146

Gu, A., & Zhou, X. (2020). Emission reduction effects of the green energy investment projects of China in belt and road initiative countries. Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, 6(1), Article 1747947. https://doi.org/10.1080/20964129.2020.1747947

Haaskjold, H., Aarseth, W. K., Røkke, T. A., & Ivarson, M. (2022). Spinning the IPD Wheels – Moving towards frictionless project delivery. The Journal of Modern Project Management, 9(2), 71–87.

Hair Jr, J. F., Sarstedt, M., Hopkins, L., & Kuppelwieser, V. G. (2014). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM): An emerging tool in business research. European Business Review, 26(2), 106–121. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-10-2013-0128

Hair Jr, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., Sarstedt, M., Danks, N. P., & Ray, S. (2021). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) using R: A workbook. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80519-7

Han, S.-R., Li, P., Xiang, J.-J., Luo, X.-H., & Chen, C.-Y. (2022). Does the institutional environment influence corporate social responsibility? Consideration of green investment of enterprises–evidence from China. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 29, 12722–12739. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09559-6

Holt, D. (2012). The Journey of a “green” micro‐enterprise – The Green Planet. Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, 19(2), 90–101. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.290

Huybrechs, F., Bastiaensen, J., & Van Hecken, G. (2019). Exploring the potential contribution of green microfinance in transformations to sustainability. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 41, 85–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2019.11.001

Huynh, C. M. (2022). Economic freedom, economic development and income inequality in Asia: An analysis from the Kuznets curve perspective. Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy. https://doi.org/10.1080/13547860.2022.2094644

Karimi, M. S., Khezri, M., Khan, Y. A., & Razzaghi, S. (2022). Exploring the influence of economic freedom index on fishing grounds footprint in environmental Kuznets curve framework through spatial econometrics technique: Evidence from Asia-Pacific countries. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 29(4), 6251–6266. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-16110-8

Karaivanov, A. (2018). Non-grant microfinance, incentives and efficiency. Applied Economics, 50(23), 2509–2524. https://doi.org/10.1080/00036846.2017.1400655

Kazaure, M. A. (2019). Extending the theory of planned behavior to explain the role of awareness in accepting Islamic health insurance (takaful) by microenterprises in northwestern Nigeria. Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research, 10(4), 607–620. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIABR-08-2017-0113

Khan, T. A., Khan, F. A., Violinda, Q., Aasir, I., & Jian, S. (2020). Microfinance facility for rural women entrepreneurs in Pakistan: An empirical analysis. Agriculture, 10(3), Article 54. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture10030054

Klaa, C. (2020). Role of African women in development and economic life: Reality and challenges. International Journal of Inspiration & Resilience Economy, 4(1), 1–9.

Kolloju, A. K., & Meoli, M. (2022). Efficiencies of faith and secular microfinance institutions in regions of Asia, Africa, and Latin America: A two-stage dual efficiency bootstrap DEA approach. Economies, 10(3), Article 66. https://doi.org/10.3390/economies10030066

Krejcie, R. V., & Morgan, D. W. (1970). Determining sample size for research activities. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 30(3), 607–610. https://doi.org/10.1177/001316447003000308

Kwiecień, I., & Poprawska, E. (2022). Economic security of women in old age: The practice of gender equity under conditions of pension gaps and feminisation of households in old age in Europe. In I Paoletti (Ed.), Older Women in Europe: A human rights-based approach (pp. 51–100). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003286585

Lee, H. S., Chong, S. C., Yap, S., Sia, B. K., & Chen, Y. X. (2021). Does economic freedom in host countries lead to increased non-life insurance development? SAGE Open, 11(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211054486

Leite, R. D. O., Mendes, L. D. S., & Sacramento, L. C. (2019). To profit or not to profit? Assessing financial sustainability outcomes of microfinance institutions. International Journal of Finance & Economics, 24(3), 1287–1299. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.1718

Leite, R., & Civitarese, J. (2019). Microfinance for women: Are there economic reasons? Evidence from Latin America. Economics Bulletin, 39(1), 571–580.

Liu, H.-H., & Liu, C.-C. (2020). The economic freedom, corporate governance and risk-taking behavior: Evidence from the European life insurance industry. Journal of Applied Finance and Banking, 10(5), 87–103. www.scienpress.com/Upload/JAFB%2FVol%2010_5_5.pdf

Maes, M., Moraes, J. B., Congio, A., Bonifacio, K. L., Barbosa, D. S., Vargas, H. O., Michelin, A. P., Carvalho, A. F., & Vargas Nunes, S. O. (2019). Development of a novel staging model for affective disorders using partial least squares bootstrapping: Effects of lipid-associated antioxidant defenses and neuro-oxidative stress. Molecular Neurobiology, 56(9), 6626–6644. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-019-1552-z

Mahmood, S. (2011). Microfinance and women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship, 3(3), 265–274. https://doi.org/10.1108/17566261111169340

Manley, S. C., Hair Jr, J. F., Williams Jr, R. I., & McDowell, W. C. (2021). Essential new PLS-SEM analysis methods for your entrepreneurship analytical toolbox. International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 17(4), 1805–1825. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-020-00687-6

Marcoulides, G. A., & Saunders, C. (2006). Editor’s comments: PLS: A silver bullet? MIS Quarterly, 30(2), iii–ix. https://doi.org/10.2307/25148727

Mayoux, L. (2005). Women’s empowerment through sustainable micro-finance. Rethinking Best.

Mehdipour, H. (2021). Investigating the effect of Dynamics Employment and institutional factors with a focus on economic freedom and ease doing of business on GDP per capita in Iran. International Journal of Innovation in Management, Economics and Social Sciences, 1(4), 73–87. https://doi.org/10.52547/ijimes.1.4.73

Murugan, T., Basri, S., & Domnic, D. D. (2019). Analyzing the conceptual model for exploratory testing framework using PLS-SEM. Advances in Applied Science Research, 10(1), 6–11. https://doi.org/10.21767/0976-8610.101069

Nel, D., & Masilela, L. (2020). Open governance for improved service delivery innovation in South Africa. International Journal of eBusiness and eGovernment Studies, 12(1), 33–47. https://doi.org/10.34111/ijebeg.202012103

Nyakuwanika, M., Duve, M., & Chagwiza, O. (2022). Bridging sustainable development gap in the gold mining sector of Zimbabwe: A conceptual framework on the role that can be played by microfinance institutions. Journal of Health and Environmental Research, 8(2), 128–140.

Özsungur, F. (2019, May). A research on women’s entrepreneurship motivation: Sample of Adana Province. Women’s Studies International Forum, 74, 114–126. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2019.03.006

Pignatel, I., & Tchuigoua, H. T. (2020). Microfinance institutions and International Financial Reporting Standards: An exploratory analysis. Research in International Business and Finance, 54, Article 101309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2020.101309

Purwanto, A. (2021). Partial Least Squares Structural Squation Modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis for social and management research: A literature review. Journal of Industrial Engineering & Management Research, 2(4), 114–123.

Russell, H. M., Tervo, W., Ariail, D. L., & Smith, L. M. (2020). Relationship of economic freedom to economic performance, gender equality, and social progress. World Economics, 21(4), 171–190.

Saberifar, R. (2020). Determination and identify factors influencing in designing an smart organization model for urban management (Case study: Municipality of Mashhad). Geographical Urban Planning Research (GUPR), 8(2), 445–467. https://doi.org/10.22059/jurbangeo.2020.299143.1245

Salleh, F., Daud, W., & Mohd Noor, N. (2021). A time to shine: How business interruption micro Takaful scheme step up to COVID-19 for micro enterprises in Malaysia. Journal of Contemporary Issues in Business and Government, 27(2), 171–177. https://doi.org/10.47750/cibg.2021.27.02.022

Shabbir, M. S., & Wisdom, O. (2020). The relationship between corporate social responsibility, environmental investments and financial performance: Evidence from manufacturing companies. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 27(32), 39946–39957. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10217-0

Shahidullah, A., & Haque, C. E. (2014). Environmental orientation of small enterprises: Can microcredit-assisted microenterprises be “green”? Sustainability, 6(6), 3232–3251. https://doi.org/10.3390/su6063232

Sharma, S., Tyagi, A., Verma, B., & Kumar, S. (2022). An inventory control model for deteriorating items under demand dependent production with time and stock dependent demand. International Journal of Operations and Quantitative Management, 27(4), 321–336. https://doi.org/10.46970/2021.27.4.2

Sofyan, H., Abd. Majid, M. S., & Rahmanda, M. (2019). Modeling dynamic causalities between the Indonesian Rupiah and Forex markets of ASEAN, Japan and Europe. Contemporary Economics, 13(1), 35–48.

Sujatha Gangadhar, C., & Malyadri, P. (2015). Impact of microfinance on women empowerment: An empirical evidence from Andhra Pradesh. Journal of Entrepreneurship & Organization Management, 4(2), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.4172/2169-026X.1000141

The Heritage Foundation. (2022). Index of Economic Freedom [EB/OL]. Retreived December 10, 2022, from https://www.heritage.org/index

Uddin, M. N., Kassim, S., Hamdan, H., Saad, N. B. M., & Embi, N. A. C. (2021). Green microfinance promoting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Bangladesh. Journal of Islamic Finance, 10(S1), 011–018. https://journals.iium.edu.my/iiibf-journal/index.php/jif/article/view/523

Ul-Hameed, W., Mohammad, H., & Shahar, H. (2018). Retracted: Microfinance institute’s non-financial services and women-empowerment: The role of vulnerability. Management Science Letters, 8(10), 1103–1116. https://doi.org/10.5267/j.msl.2018.7.001

Westhuizen, J. v. d., & Ntshingila, L. (2020). The effect of supplier selection, supplier development and information sharing on SME’s business performance in Sedibeng. International Journal of Economics and Finance Studies, 12(2), 290–304.

Yap, W. K., & Sufian, F. (2018). Bank’s profit efficiency under China economic structure rebalancing: Empirical evidence using index of economic freedom. The Chinese Economy, 51(1), 20–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/10971475.2017.1368878

Yuan, B., & Zhang, Y. (2020). Flexible environmental policy, technological innovation and sustainable development of China’s industry: The moderating effect of environment regulatory enforcement. Journal of Cleaner Production, 243, Article 118543. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118543

Zhu, L., Kara, O., & Zhu, X. (2019). A comparative study of women entrepreneurship in transitional economies: The case of China and Vietnam. Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, 11(1), 66–80. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEEE-04-2017-0027