Sustainable Financial Management In Msmes: A Conceptual Literature Review On Financial Literacy, Fintech Adoption, Working-Capital Discipline, And Organizational Learning Capability

Abstract

Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) play a critical role in employment and inclusive growth, yet many remain financially fragile due to limited financial capability, informal recordkeeping, constrained access to finance, and weak cash-flow routines. This conceptual literature review synthesizes international evidence on four interrelated capability domains shaping MSME financial sustainability: financial literacy, fintech adoption, working-capital discipline, and organizational learning capability. Guided by a simplified scoping logic aligned with PRISMA-ScR principles, the review maps core theoretical lenses human capital and financial capability, technology acceptance and trust, working-capital management, and organizational learning and integrates them into a coherent explanatory framework. Across the literature, financial literacy supports better outcomes primarily when translated into routinized financial management capability, while fintech adoption enhances efficiency and transaction visibility but remains contingent on trust, perceived risk, and facilitating conditions. Working-capital discipline consistently appears as the operational bridge connecting capability to liquidity resilience and profitability. Organizational learning capability functions as a meta-capability that stabilizes practice change and sustains the benefits of literacy and digital tool usage over time. The paper concludes with implications for MSME development programs and fintech ecosystem design and outlines a research agenda emphasizing mechanisms, boundary conditions, and resilience outcomes.

Keywords: MSMEs; financial literacy; working capital management; organizational learning capability