The Impact Of Digital Inclusive Finance Development On Small And Medium-sized Enterprises

The role of Digital Inclusive Finance(DIF)in the development of small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs)and employment in China is a matter of great interest to the theoretical community.Studies have shown that the development of DIF can have a positive impact on the development of SMEs,especially in terms of financing constraints and innovation,and that the healthy development of SMEs can play a significant role in "stabilising employment".To this end,this article attempts to explore the role of the development of DIF on the employment of SMEs from a micro perspective and examine its intermediary mechanisms.This article attempts to take the employment of SMEs as an entry point to explore the micro mechanism of the role of DIF on them and examine whether it maintains the healthy development of SMEs to improve the employment problem in China,with a view to enriching the research on DIF and the development of SMEs as well as employment issues.In order to explore the link between digital inclusive finance and SMEs employment,this paper selects unbalanced panel data of 735 SMEs on the SMEs board over the ten-year period 2011-2020 to conduct an empirical study on the employment levels of SMEs,to explore the impact of DIF development on SME employment,and to explore whether there is a potential mediating effect of firm performance in the impact process.Through the analysis of the development of DIF in China,this paper concludes that there is a significant positive relationship between it and the employment status of SMEs in China,and that the development of DIF can significantly boost the employment of SMEs as a whole and the employment of low-and medium-skilled workers.Further heterogeneity analysis reveals that although DIF has a somewhat smaller impact on the employment of non-state owned SMEs than state owned ones,with its development,DIF has a significantly enhanced boosting effect on the employment of non-state owned SMEs.In addition,the development of DIF has a more significant impact on employment levels in labour-intensive firms among capital-intensive and labour-intensive firms.The findings of this paper are important theoretical guidance for elucidating the link between DIF and SMEs development and employment rates,providing policy insights on how to promote the healthy development of SMEs from the perspective of DIF to achieve the goal of "stable employment",and offering new perspectives for scholars to conduct further research in this area.