The Impact of Digital Inclusive Finance on Financing Constraints of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises: Examining the Moderating Effect of Regional Financial Ecosystem

Abstract

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role in driving economic growth, fostering technological innovation, and expanding employment. However, they have long faced structural financing constraints, including information asymmetry, limited credit history, and exclusion from traditional financial systems. Conventional financial institutions often fail to meet the financing needs of high-growth, asset-light SMEs—particularly those classified as "specialized, refined, differentiated, and innovative" (SRDI)—due to their reliance on hard information and collateral-based risk control. In response, digital inclusive finance, empowered by big data, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technologies, is reshaping credit assessment and risk pricing systems, thereby expanding the accessibility and precision of financial services for SMEs. This paper focuses on the causal logic between digital inclusive finance and SME financing constraints, systematically reviewing the direct and indirect mechanisms through which digital finance alleviates financing barriers, including credit reconstruction, dynamic pricing, and supply chain finance integration. Furthermore, the study incorporates the regional financial ecological environment as a moderating variable, examining how institutional quality, financial infrastructure, and governance capacity influence the effectiveness of digital finance mechanisms. The findings reveal that digital finance exhibits a substitution effect in regions with strong institutional support, and a complementary effect in underdeveloped areas. The interactive effects between firm-level and regional heterogeneity further amplify the differentiated outcomes, with SRDI enterprises benefiting most significantly.