Impacto de la formación de capital social sobre la inclusión financiera en asociaciones productivas rurales de la parroquia Sayausí

Abstract

The aim of this study is to present a methodology to measure the impact of social capital formation on financial inclusion in productive associations in the rural parish of Sayausí. It is considered as a study hypothesis that the deficient financial education that the habitants of rural communities have, causes them to be subject to social and economic exclusion, in this sense the lack of knowledge about payment mechanisms and formal financing through the financial system; it causes low levels of financial inclusion in the habitants of these sectors. According to literature, social capital acts as a mediator between financial education and financial inclusion, so the tests of Sobel and Kenny & Baron are used to prove the existence of this effect in the productive associations of Sayausí. The results reveal that social capital is a significant mediator for the relationship between financial education and financial inclusion in the members of associations. Financial education did not have a direct effect on financial inclusion, but through the full mediation of social capital. The existence of social capital increases the relationship between financial education and financial inclusion by 73% in the members of productive associations. Therefore, this finding suggests that, in the absence of social capital, financial education cannot improve the level of financial inclusion.