Microfinance towards micro-enterprises development in rural Malaysia through digital finance

Microfinance is critical for the development of micro-enterprises and alleviating poverty. However, micro-enterprises are able to get microfinance services, they would face a variety of obstacles, due to the misunderstandings among many stakeholders, microfinance has not acquired widespread acceptance. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate microfinance's impact on the sustainable development of Malaysia's rural micro-enterprises. Besides, digital finance is integrated into the conceptual model to further investigate their mediating impact. Data was collected from 563 rural micro-enterprises using structured questionnaires, which were then statistically analyzed using AMOS-21. The findings of the study reveal that microfinance has a positive substantial influence on rural micro-enterprises development. Moreover, digital finance partially mediates the relationship. Thus, the study concludes that microfinance institutions are needed to adopt digital finance to enhance micro enterprises' productivity through low transaction costs. The findings of the study can be useful to policymakers in the micro-enterprise sector who have a long-term vision and expect the sector to develop steadily. The study also provides scope and space for future academics and scholars to conduct further research.