Examining the impact of mobile money on financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa: the role of institutions and governance

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the role of institutional quality in the relationship between mobile money and financial inclusion among Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) from 2002 to 2022. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses annual data from SSA on a bundle of four financial inclusion variables, six institutional quality indicators (i.e. rule of law, government effectiveness, control of corruption, voice and accountability, regulatory quality and political stability) and total volume of mobile money transaction in a year. The two-stage least squares regression was used to validate the hypotheses. Also, the random effects model was also used to account for potential unobserved heterogeneity across countries in SSA. Findings The empirical results reveal that institutional quality and mobile money have direct impact on financial inclusion. Also, institutional quality plays a positive and significant contingency role in the relationship between mobile money and financial inclusion. Originality/value The study contributes to financial inclusion theory by providing multi-country empirical evidence to validate the theory in explaining mobile money’s role in expanding financial access. It also highlights the key insight from financial inclusion theory regarding the need for strong governance institutions for technology-enabled inclusion. By examining interactions between mobile money, institutions and financial inclusion across 15 African SSA economies, the study allows for more generalizable conclusions about contextual dependencies.