Digital Financial Inclusion and Household Resilience in Emerging Economies: An Integrated Analysis of Technology, Trust and Socioeconomic Security

Abstract

Digital financial inclusion has become a key pillar in achieving sustainable economic growth, by facilitating households' access to formal financial services and enhancing their ability to deal with financial risks. This study investigated the digital financial inclusion, technology use, institutional trust, socioeconomic security and household resilience links in emerging economies based on the Global Findex dataset. Selected financial inclusion indicators were used to create composite indices, while descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multiple regression were used to assess the interrelationships between the study variables. The results indicated that digital financial inclusion was positively linked with household resilience, and technology adoption and institution trust had significant positive effect on the effective use of digital financial services. Socioeconomic security proved the largest predictor of household resilience, underscoring the need for stable economic circumstances in order to reap benefits from financial inclusion. Comparative analysis also revealed that high and upper middle-income economies tended to have higher scores for digital financial inclusion and household resilience than low income ones. The study adds to the broader body of digital finance and development in the following ways: Firstly, by offering an integrated empirical perspective on financial resilience that brings together the technological, institutional, and socioeconomic aspects. The results have implications for policy and financial institutions that can advance the goal of creating digital financial ecosystems that would be inclusive and help build household resilience and sustainable socioeconomic development in emerging economies.