May L. Gregorio (Author)

Abstract: This survey-correlational study entitled “Microfinance Access and Its Economic Impact on Rural Development in Mambusao, Capiz” sought to determine the level of access to microfinance services and its economic impact on rural development in the municipality of Mambusao. The study was conducted during the school year of 2024–2025, targeting 366 active microfinance clients of Dungganon, Lifebank, CARD Bank, and ASA Philippines and other MFIs in Mambusao, determined using the Raosoft calculator from a total population of 6,446. The independent variable in this study was Microfinance access while the dependent variable is the economic impact. A structured Likert-scale survey questionnaire served as the principal data collection tool. Mean and standard deviation were used for descriptive statistics, One-Way Anova to test the significant difference in the economic impact across different level of microfinance access, and Pearson r to test the significant relationship between independent and dependent variable and set at 0.05 alpha level to establish the level of significance. The findings of this study were the following: First, the level of microfinance access in Mambusao was “Very High”, with clients perceived “Very High” level of access to microfinance institutions, on their loans and savings financial products, and a “High” level of access to training and support programs. Second, economic impact of Microfinance access in Mambusao was found to be “High” were participants access to microfinance resulted to increase in household incomes, improve business growth, increased asset acquisition, improved community services and an overall improvement in quality of life. Third, ANOVA results showed significant differences in the economic impact of participants across different levels of access to microfinance services. Fourth, statistical analysis indicated a significant relationship between microfinance access and economic impact, with a Pearson correlation coefficient of r = 0.689 (p = 0.000), thus demonstrating a moderately strong positive relationship.

Keywords: microfinance access, economic impact, rural development

DOI: https://doi.org/10.69651/PIJHSS0403269

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