Academic Journal of Business & Management, 2024, 6(7); doi: 10.25236/AJBM.2024.060726.
Yazhe Li
BIT-BMSTU Joint School, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 102401, China
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which drive China's economy, have faced debt risk, financing difficulties, and financing prices due to a lack of hard financial information for the past decade. Digital inclusive finance is seen as the solution. This research examines how digital inclusive finance affects SMEs' leverage ratios using a 2011–2021 sample of former SME board listed enterprises. The study found that: digital financial inclusion has a significant negative impact on enterprise leverage; it can reduce its own leverage by improving cash flow and reducing long-term debt ratios; and the effect is greater in non-state-owned and "maturity stage" enterprises. The contributions of this research lie in demonstrating that digital financial inclusion mitigates in SMEs’ corporate debt risk. Additionally, it identifies a novel transmission mechanism influencing corporate leverage. These findings have the potential to play a crucial role in preventing systemic risk and fostering deeper structural reform on the financial supply side.
Digital Inclusive Finance, Small and Medium-sized enterprises, Leverage Ratios
Yazhe Li. The Impact of Digital Inclusive Finance on Corporate Leverage Ratio—Evidence from Listed Companies in the SME Board of China. Academic Journal of Business & Management (2024) Vol. 6, Issue 7: 191-197. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJBM.2024.060726.
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