Learning through social networks: How workers optimize the use of fintech for remittances

The authors use data from a leading fintech firm in Korea, including transaction-level data on international remittance payments to developing Asia and referral data among users, to study the role of social networks in helping low-income workers optimize their use of a new technology. The study shows how experience using a desirable fintech feature–an order cancellation option–helps workers optimize the timing of the exchange rate applied to their transactions. Overall, the authors find that workers’ personal experience using the fintech, and the experience of the worker’s social network, increase the frequency and efficiency of workers’ use of the feature.

• Date: 03/02/2022
• Sector: Any
• Topics: Digital technology, Financial education, Gender equality, Inclusive finance, Workers' rights
• Regions: Asia and the Pacific
• Resource type: Publications
• Institutions: KAIST College of Business