Digital Banking Adoption and MSMEs Resilience in Blockchain Enabled Financial Ecosystems

Abstract

The growing adoption of digital financial technologies has provided Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) with opportunities to improve financial management and resilience within emerging blockchain-enabled financial ecosystems. However, digital banking adoption does not necessarily ensure that technological access will result in stronger financial resilience. Previous studies have commonly examined digital banking adoption, financial literacy, and financial resilience independently, leaving limited understanding of how these factors interact through financial management practices and financial capabilities. This study investigates the influence of Digital Banking Adoption on MSMEs’ Financial Resilience, with Financial Planning serving as a mediating mechanism and Financial Literacy as a moderating factor. The novelty of this study lies in developing an integrated behavioral and financial capability framework that connects digital banking adoption with MSMEs’ financial resilience while considering blockchain-enabled financial ecosystems as the broader technological context. A quantitative cross-sectional design was employed using data from 300 MSMEs owners or managers in Indonesia who actively use digital banking services. The data were analyzed using PLS-SEM. The results show that Digital Banking Adoption significantly affects Financial Planning (β = 0.72, p < 0.001) and Financial Resilience (β = 0.24, p = 0.003). Financial Planning significantly affects Financial Resilience (β = 0.48, p < 0.001) and mediates the relationship (β = 0.35, p < 0.001). Financial Literacy negatively moderates the relationship (β = −0.18, p = 0.015), suggesting that higher financial literacy may reduce digital banking’s marginal contribution to resilience.