novafrica@novasbe.pt

The Role of Social Networks on the Adoption of Financial Services in Rural Mozambique

Project Info

Principal Investigators

Cátia Batista (Nova SBE)
Marcel Fafchamps (Stanford)
Pedro Vicente (Nova SBE)

Field Coordination

Stefanus Leeffers

Funding

International Growth Center (IGC)

About this Project

A collaborative effort with Carteira Movel

 

Recent research in Mozambique has shown considerable adoption of mobile money in rural areas of Southern Mozambique. However, it remains to be understood how information and adoption diffuse within mobile money users in rural areas.

This research project examines how social influence and peers affect the adoption of mobile money services. For this purpose, we (exogenously) build social links between about 1,000 mobile money users that have been part of a randomized control trial implemented by NOVAFRICA for the last two years (see here for more information about this project). We will randomly assign social links to participants and, by varying the structure of the social network, be able to assess the role of network density, clustering and centrality in the diffusion of information and adoption. Within the networks, chosen individuals will be provided with further information to allow us to measure how this information affects mobile money usage.

Contributing to SDGs: