Robust Financial Inclusion Framework by Examining Literacy Aspects in Oman

Abstract

This research examines how Internet finance and challenges (IFC) affect Oman’s banking sector’s financial inclusion (FIN). This research also examines the mediating function of digital literacy (DL) and financial literacy (FL). The conceptual model hypothesis was tested using a questionnaire with study construct items. Financial services and customers at selected Oman banks were sampled using purposive sampling. To test model fitness and derive hypothesis outcomes, AMOS was used to analyze these data using PLS-SEM. The IFC and FIN of financial services users were positively and significantly associated, and DL and FL mediated this connection. This research highlighted DL and FL as the mediating mechanism, adding to the literature on IFC and FIN. FIN must address Internet finance issues, and the government must create regulations to improve financial service consumers’ DL and FL to boost FIN in Oman. This research is innovative and distinctive since it emphasizes the necessity of technological literacy to make it easier for banks and other financial institutions to deliver financial services to the Sultanate of Oman.