Examining the effect of mobile money transfer (MMT) capabilities on business growth and development impact

ABSTRACT

Mobile money transfer (MMT) has been one of the success stories of mobile phone services in developing countries, especially in the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region. Studies into the impact of MMT capabilities on microenterprise in the region are still nascent and most have focused on MMT diffusion. The study specifically examines the effect of MMT capabilities on microenterprise growth and the subsequent effect on the well-being of microentrepreneurs, which in this study is referred to as ‘development impact’. The dynamic capability theory was used as a theoretical lens to develop a research model and three hypotheses to answer the research questions. The model was tested by using the survey methodology to collect data from 201 MMT microenterprise operating in Ghana, a Sub-Saharan Africa nation. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. All the three hypotheses were confirmed. This paper offers both theoretical and managerial implications.

KEYWORDS:

• Mobile money
• ICT4D
• ICT capabilties
• business growth
• development impact
• microenterprise

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

David Asamoah is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Supply Chain and Information Systems of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) School of Business. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Master’s degree in Business Administration and PhD in Logistics & Supply Chain Management all from KNUST. His research areas include Procurement management, Supply Chain management, Enterprise Systems and ICT use. His works have been published in many journals including Communication of the Association for Information Systems (CAIS), Management Research Review (Emerald), International Journal for Services and Standards, and Journal of Medical Marketing.

Samer Takieddine is an assistant professor of information systems in Eastern New Mexico University. He holds a PhD in computer information systems and quatitative methods from the University of Texas – Pan American. His research areas include Business Intelligence, Business Analytics, Management Support Systems, Data Mining, ICT Diffusion, e-Commerce, Information Security, and Social Networks. He has published in the Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, and Electronic Journal of Electronic Finance, as well as in numerous conference proceedings.

Mawuli Kobla Amedofu is a Tutor and Researcher at the Institute of Distant Learning (IDL) Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). He has obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and Geography from the University of Ghana, an M.A. in Economics from KNUST, and MPhil in Logistics and Supply Chain Management from KNUST. His research interests include Supply Chain Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Economics and Culture. His scholarly works have been published in international conferences. He is also supply chain practitioner, currently working as the Supply Chain Manager for Dext Technology Limited.