Digital divide or dividend? A meta-analysis of digital finance and inclusive entrepreneurship

ABSTRACT

This paper provides a meta-analysis of the digital finance-inclusive entrepreneurship nexus. We exploit the link between digital financial development and entrepreneurship of disadvantaged groups. After accounting for publication bias and between-study heterogeneity using meta-regression analysis, we find that the publication bias-corrected digital finance-inclusive entrepreneurship nexus is positive and statistically significant. Interestingly, our findings also show that the impact of using digital finance on inclusive entrepreneurial behaviour varies among different groups, with women being weaker than other groups and migrant workers being stronger than other groups.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital finance
• inclusive entrepreneurship
• publication bias
• meta-analysis
• disadvantaged groups

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• M20
• O10
• G40
• E44

Disclosure statement

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

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the earmarked fund for CARS-32-14 [CARS-32-14]. And this earmarked fund is a fund project in China.