Avoiding the crowding-out of prosocial motivation in microfinance

Microfinance: A bibliometric exploration of the knowledge landscape

“…Efficiency in microfinance is typically assessed through operational and financial indicators, such as the operational self-sufficiency (OSS) ratio, measuring an MFI's capacity to cover costs with operating income [ 4 , 5 , 69 , 70 ]. Social metrics, like the number of active borrowers and outreach depth to impoverished clients, also play a significant role in performance evaluation [ [71] , [72] , [73] ]. Research by Mersland and Strom [ 14 ], Mcintosh and Wydick [ 74 ], and Copestake [ 75 ] underscores the critical balance between achieving financial sustainability and maintaining the social mission, cautioning against mission drift due to excessive focus on financial performance [ 76 ].…”