Behavioural and psychological factors that influence the usage of formal financial services among the low income households

Abstract

The emerging economies need to frame and implement effective financial inclusion policies for sustainable development and growth. Recent initiative of India that every Low Income Households (LIHs) has a bank account is a sweeping success; but the flipside is that half of these accounts are either inactive or less active, which raises concern. In this context, this research attempts to identify the behavioural and psychological factors that influence the usage of formal financial services (FFS) among LIHs in India. Theory of Planned Behaviour is used as the base theoretical model, in which 'Habit' was introduced as a moderating variable that interacts with Behavioural Intention to influence Actual Usage. Data was collected from 253 respondents and analysed using SmartPLS 3.0. This study revealed that the exogenous variables Attitude, Subjective Norms, Perceived Behavioural Control positively influenced the intention to use FFS; moreover, Habit negatively moderated the BI-AU relationship. Therefore, the policy makers on financial inclusion drive may consider these identified factors in their mission to improve the usage of FFS among LIHs, and to curtail the informal or alternative financial services.