EFFECTS OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS' MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS ON FINANCIAL INCLUSION IN MBEYA CITY AND MBEYA RURAL DISTRICT

Abstract

This study evaluated the impact of financial institutions (FIs) management effectiveness on financial inclusion. This investigation was prompted because only a small portion, approximately 22%, of the Tanzanian population used banking services. To uncover the reasons behind the remaining 78% of individuals being excluded from the financial system, a positivistic research philosophy was adopted, and a causal-effect research design was employed. The study was conducted in both Mbeya City and Mbeya rural district. A sample of 210 respondents was selected from a population of 1,000 financial users and providers using a simple random sampling technique. Data was collected through the use of questionnaires. The collected data was carefully processed and underwent reliability and validity testing. Subsequently, the cleaned data were analyzed using structural equation modelling (SEM) with the assistance of SPSS AMOS version 26. The analysis revealed that FIs' management effectiveness, as measured by customer categorization, financial packaging, and digitization, had a positive and statistically significant impact on financial inclusion. Based on these findings, it is recommended that FIs' management take innovative actions under the central bank's regulation to address the concern that 78% of the Tanzanian population is unbanked.