Influence of Socio-Cultural Practices on Credit Uptake Behaviour of Women-Owned Micro-Enterprise Projects in Machakos Sub- County, Machakos County, Kenya

Abstract

The success of many Women-Owned Micro-Enterprise Projects (WOMEPs) is highly dependent on reliable access to credit services as a source of capital. However, due to prevalence of numerous socio-cultural practices such as patriarchy, social discrimination, norms/taboos, negative perceptions and social stigma, a number of these projects fail to get adequate access to credit financing. Consequently, they fail to reach their full potential. This study therefore sought to investigate the influence of socio-cultural practices on credit uptake behaviour of women-owned micro-enterprise projects in Machakos Sub-County, Machakos County.The sample included 504 women micro entrepreneurs, 8 credit managers, 7 credit officers and 2 Machakos County Social Development Officials. Data was collected using the questionnaire. Data analysis was done using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics included frequencies and percentages whereas inferential statistics involved regression analysis in the SPSS version 22.0 software. Regression analysis results revealed that a unit rise in the prevalence of socio-cultural practices is likely to reduce credit uptake amongst women micro enterprises by about 32.7%. The implication is that socio-cultural practices have a significant negative influence on credit uptake behaviour of the women owned micro enterprise projects. The study therefore recommended that the national and county governments should institute legislations to curb retrogressive socio-cultural practices especially in rural set ups in order to increase credit uptake capacity of women micro entrepreneurs.