Financial knowledge and its relationship with microenterprise sustainability: a case study

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18041/1657-2815/libreempresa.2022v19n1.9589

Keywords:

Informal financing, Financial vulnerability, Financial asymmetry, Financial literacy, Financial exclusion, Financial self-exclusion

Abstract

This article describes the predominant financial knowledge in micro-entrepreneurs and its relationship with the sustainability of their business. The research was carried out through Likert-type surveys applied to 76 micro-enterprises, which allowed characterizing the level of financial knowledge that microentrepreneurs had, both financial concepts and the existing credit offer in the city of Cali. A stratified sample was selected, according to the existing representativeness in the area, based on the number of microenterprises and the economic sector. The results showed that microentrepreneurs have a low level of financial knowledge; additionally, their companies are mainly developed within the commercial economic activity. The foregoing typifies them as a vulnerable population, exposed to the threats from the asymmetry of financial information, namely: the exclusion or self-exclusion of the formal financial system, which helps to bring these productive units closer to the use of informal sources of financing and to assume the high costs that this implies, which generates a negative impact for the sustainability of the business.

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Author Biographies

  • Janeth Chunga-Hernández, Fundación Universitaria Católica Lumen Gentium (Unicatólica).

    D. candidate in Economics and Finance, Universidad Benito Juárez G.; Master in Administration with emphasis in Corporate Finance, Universidad Icesi; and Business Administrator, Universidad del Valle.  Professor, researcher and head of the academic department of the School of Administration, Accounting and Finance of the Catholic University Foundation Lumen Gentium (Unicatólica). Member of the Interdisciplinary Research Group in Organizational Management (GIICO).

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  • Francia Milena Suárez-García, Fundación Universitaria Católica Lumen Gentium (Unicatólica).

    Master in Public Health, Universidad del Valle; Specialist in Teaching for Higher Education, Universidad Santiago de Cali; Specialist in Human Talent Management by Competence by SENA; and, Psychologist, Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia.  Teacher and researcher at the School of Administration, Accounting and Finance of the Unicatólica. Member of GIICO.

  • Hugo Bécquer Paz-Quintero, Universidad Libre - Cali, Colombia

    D. in Technological Management in Innovation, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro; Master in Systems Engineering, Universidad del Valle; Systems Specialist, Universidad del Valle, Specialist in Interdisciplinary Training in Virtual Education, ILCE of Mexico; and, Business Administrator, Universidad Santiago de Cali. Professor, researcher and director of the Research Center of the Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Accounting Sciences of the Universidad Libre, Cali. Member of the research group Colectivo Genesis.

  • María Fernanda González, Fundación Universitaria Católica Lumen Gentium (Unicatólica).

    Doctoral candidate in Management Administration, Universidad Benito Juárez; Master in Strategic Management, Universidad Internacional Iberoamericana; and, Business Administrator, Universidad Autónoma de Occidente.  Professor and researcher at the School of Administration, Accounting and Finance of Unicatólica. Member of GIICO.

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Published

2022-06-28

Issue

Vol. 19 No. 1 (2022): Libre Empresa

Section

Research Articles

How to Cite

Chunga-Hernández, J., Suárez-García, F. M., Paz-Quintero, H. B., & González, M. F. (2022). Financial knowledge and its relationship with microenterprise sustainability: a case study. LIBRE EMPRESA, 19(1), 117-135. https://doi.org/10.18041/1657-2815/libreempresa.2022v19n1.9589