When Compensatory Indices Mislead: Non-Compensatory Two-Stage Sorting of Financial Inclusion in Lower-Middle-Income Countries
JOURNAL OF MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION ANALYSIS, cilt.33, sa.3, ss.1-21, 2026 (ESCI, Scopus)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Cilt numarası: 33 Sayı: 3
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.1002/mcda.70039
- Dergi Adı: JOURNAL OF MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION ANALYSIS
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Business Source Ultimate (EBSCO), Health Research Premium Collection (ProQuest), Scopus, Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), ABI/INFORM, INSPEC, zbMATH
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.1-21
- Ankara Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
We extend the non-compensatory ELECTRE TRI-B inspired sorting model with multiple evaluators with a two-stage mem-bership procedure to categorise 27 lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) based on their financial inclusion (FI) levels. Byemploying four access and four usage FI dimensions, we impose an ‘access-first’ constraint and require the joint satisfactionof access and usage constraints for high, mid, and low FI classification. Unlike commonly used multivariate techniques andcompensatory methods, this access-first approach prevents an advantage in FI usage from offsetting a weakness in FI access,therefore providing a clearer picture for LMICs' FI levels. The results indicate that once the access condition is met, the usageFI dimensions decide whether to confirm or upgrade the category of a given country. Countries such as Nepal, Mauritania, andNigeria show relatively better performance on some usage dimensions, but not in the access block; hence, they are sorted in midor low FI categories.