Financial Inclusion (FI) Mediates the Relationship Between Financial Literacy (FL) and Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE)

Abstract

This examination expects to investigate the relationship between financial literacy (FL) and financial inclusion (FI), and to dissect how FI goes about as a mediated in the relationship between FL and women's economic empowerment. Furthermore, the review dives into the control impact of social capital (SC) use as a moderating variable in FL and FI. Used positivism philosophy and deductive approach, and variables scale was adopted. The study collected 350 reliable answers from women working in private universities in the educational sector in Lahore through self-filled surveys using a simple random sampling method on a five-point Likert scale. This research used the AMOS-21 software. This software runs different types of tests e.g., “confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)” which confirms the variable items, and also uses “structural equation modelling (SEM)” to confirm or reject the research hypotheses. A p-value < 0.05 supports the first hypothesis (H1), which states that there is a substantial and beneficial relationship between financial inclusion (FI) and financial literacy (FL). Going on to the second hypothesis (H2), it is established that financial inclusion (FI) and women's economic empowerment (WEE) have a favourable and significant relationship. The third hypothesis (H3) suggests a partial mediation effect by arguing that financial inclusion is mediated by the association between financial literacy and women's economic empowerment. According to the fourth hypothesis (H4), social capital has a moderating effect on the importance and strength of the relationship between financial inclusion and financial literacy. The study's conclusions highlight social capital's strong moderating effect on this relationship. The study emphasises how important financial inclusion and financial literacy are to enhancing women's economic empowerment. It highlights the importance of policymakers and educational institutions recognizing the factors and providing opportunities and resources to enhance women's financial knowledge and skills. The findings underscore the need for proactive measures in the education sector to empower women economically.