Mobile payments and money technologies in sustainable development: a systematic literature review and computer-assisted interpretive analysis

ABSTRACT

Mobile Money (MM) and Mobile Payments (MP) have become levers of growth. They drive economic, social, and Sustainable Development (SD). Despite the rich literature on MM and MP, we need more synthesis that cover their contributions as forms of Information and Communications Technologies for Development (ICT4D). We explored MM/MP as ICT4D through a systematic literature review coupled with a Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) approach. The data analyses revealed that publications have increased significantly since 2018. Financial inclusion is the most studied area. It's studied for its contribution to SD. We also need to study these technologies’ effects on SD. This includes their effects on society and the environment. We propose a research agenda regarding these technologies at individual, organizational, country, regional, and global levels of analysis. It can help to find how these ICT4D improve people’s lives and foster sustainable development.

KEYWORDS:

• Mobile money
• mobile payments
• ICT4D
• sustainable development goals
• systematic literature review
• LDA

Acknowledgments

Dear Reviewers and Editor, we would like to express our sincere thanks for the time and effort you have devoted to reviewing this article. Your comments and suggestions were precious in improving the quality and clarity of our work. We are grateful for your expertise and commitment to academic excellence, which have greatly enhanced the rigor and relevance of our research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Bancarization is a term used to measure access to financial inclusion in countries or regions, such as banking or online banking services.

2 Transformation: ‘a belief that the incremental developmental changes achieved to date will no longer be sufficient in the remainder of the twenty-first century; and an aspiration for a step-change in approach’ (Heeks, 2020, p. 1).

3 Inclusion: ‘development that provides opportunities and benefits for all, including those who have to a relative or absolute extent been excluded by development to date’ (Heeks, 2020, p. 2).

4 Sustainability: ‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (Heeks, 2020, p. 2).