The rapid growth of mobile money agent networks is perceived to have significantly expanded access to formal financial services for millions at the bottom of the pyramid. Currently, mobile money agents have been responsible for digitizing about $294 million, marking a 17% increase from 2021 (GSMA, 2023). However, recent policy discussions highlight significant productivity losses among these agents. According to the Transaction Cost Index (TCI) report by Annan et al.(2023), 29% of attempted transactions failed across Tanzania, Uganda, and Bangladesh, with 17% due to agent absenteeism and 14% due to transaction failures despite agent presence (also known as presenteeism). Loss ofproductivity (measured as absenteeismand presenteeism) hinders financial inclusion because consumers are unable to access financial services. While some studies link these issues to unfavourable weather (Annan et al., 2024) and moral hazard (Böheim and Leoni, 2011), the health or “state of well-being” of mobile money agents is an overlooked factor contributing to productivity losses. Agents with good mental health can work productively, contribute effectively to their community, and achieve fruitful outcomes (Chopra, 2009).
The stress agents experience from consistently meeting ambitious sales quotas is a precursor to common mental health disorders (Habel et al., 2021). Common mental disorders (CMDs), such as depression and anxiety in the workplace, significantly diminish productivity measured as absenteeism and presenteeism (Chopra, 2009). Bubonya et al. (2017) found that absence rates are approximately five percent higher among workers with poor mental health. Therefore, organizations prioritizing well-being and supporting employees with CMDs can significantly reduce absenteeism and presenteeism, increasing worker productivity (de Oliveira et al., 2022). CMDs are more prevalent in developing countries, where most of the labour force is in the informal sector, often without written contracts, paid leave, or other
benefits (Chopra, 2009). de Oliveira et al. (2022) documented that mental disorders are pervasive and costly, with estimated economic impacts of US $2.5 trillion in 2010, projected to increase to over US $6 trillion by 2030, mainly due to absenteeism and presenteeism. This highlights the urgent need to understand and address CMDs to improve productivity and financial inclusion in the mobile money sector.
Results from this proposal will help us design interventions and explore the potential for a pilot study to address CMDs among mobile money agents. We aim to understand the industry’s willingness to tackle CMDs by gathering insights from market players and mobile money agents through interviews and surveys, respectively. We have identified two key players (mobile money firms)—MTN Mobile Money Ghana and Telecel Ghana—as crucial financial service partners for
addressing this
Category
Year
Institution