Determinants of the Social Performance of Microfinance Institutions in Vietnam

Abstract

The paper analyzes factors affecting the social performance of microfinance institutions in Vietnam in the period 2013-2021. We use index analysis and the DEA method to measure the social performance of microfinance institutions. The results show that the breadth of outreach is positively affected by scale, labor productivity and negatively affected by operating costs, and operational sustainability. The depth of outreach is positively affected by age, scale, operational sustainability and negatively affected by labor productivity, interest rate and liquidity. The proportion of female borrowers is positively affected by interest rate and negatively affected by scale, capital structure, operational sustainability and operating costs. In terms of allocative efficiency, the researchs point that age, bad debt ratio, and operational sustainability have positive effects on technical efficiency TE while scale and interest rate have negative effects on TE. On contrast, age and operational sustainability have positive effects on scale efficiency SE while scale has negative effects on SE. In addition, the results also show differences in the level of impact of factors such as scale, capital structure, liquidity, labour productivity, operating costs, interest rates, and operational sustainability between formal and semi-formal microfinance institutions.