An empirical study on financing constraints of digital inclusive finance development on small and medium-sized technology-based enterprise

Abstract

PurposeThis paper mainly explores the relationship between digital inclusive finance and financing constraints of technological-based SMEs, and how digital inclusive finance affects the financing constraints of technology-based SMEs. This paper empirically analyzes the relationship between them through the OLS model, and then further verifies the relationship between them through robust regression and heterogeneity analysis. At the same time, it uses the mechanism test to explore how digital inclusive finance affects the financing constraints of technology-based SMEs. This paper aims to address these issues.Design/methodology/approachThis paper aims to explain the relationship between digital inclusive finance and financing constraints of technological-based SMEs. Technology-based SMEs always face the difficult problem of “financing difficulty” and “financing expensive” in the development process, which hinders the survival and development of enterprises to some extent. Digital inclusive finance development policy vigorously promoted by the state has alleviated the financing constraints of technology-based SMEs and brought opportunities for their development.FindingsThe results show that the role of digital inclusive finance in alleviating the financing constraints of technology-based SMEs, and incremental supplement and alleviating information asymmetry are the main reasons for digital inclusive finance to alleviate the financing constraints of technology-based SMEs. In view of the availability of digital inclusive financial data, this paper only uses the data from 2014 to 2019.Originality/valueThe authors’ research clearly found that the development of digital inclusive finance alleviates the financing of technology-based SMEs from the two aspects of “incremental supplement” and alleviating information asymmetry, so as to provide corresponding reference basis for the government to formulate a series of plans to support the development of technology-based SMEs.