Financial Literacy and MSME Performance: The Role of Access to Financing Products and Perception of Financial Risk

The increasing number of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises in Indonesia is not followed by the development of financial literacy and financial inclusion at the SME level.Low levels of financial literacy make it difficult for SMEs to access funding because they are unable to produce good financial reports and inaccurate financial management.This study aims to examine the effect of financial literacy, access to financing products, and perception of financial risk on the performance of MSMEs in Indonesia.In addition, this study also wants to test the mediating effect of access to financing products and perceptions of financial risk on the effect of financial literacy on MSME performance.This study collected answers from questionnaires sent to 536 MSMEs in Indonesia and analysed using path analysis.The results showed that financial literacy, access to financing products, and financial risk perception have an influence on financial performance.The mediating effect only occurs in the perception of financial risk, while access to financing products is not proven to have a mediating effect on the effect of financial literacy on the financial performance of MSMEs.Based on these findings, it can be concluded that MSMEs that have good financial literacy will trigger good financial risk perception so that it will affect performance.However, good financial literacy knowledge of MSMEs does not have an impact on access to the acquisition of financing products to improve financial performance.