AAU Institutional Repository (AAU-ETD)
Addis Ababa University Institutional repository is an open access repository that collects,preserves, and disseminates scholarly outputs of the university. AAU-ETD archives' collection of master's theses, doctoral dissertations and preprints showcase the wide range of academic research undertaken by AAU students over the course of the University's long history.
How to Submit Your Work
The repository contains scholarly work, both unpublished and published, by current or former AAU faculty, staff, and students, including Works by AAU students as part of their masters, doctoral, or post-doctoral research
- All AAU faculty, staff, and students are invited to submit their work to the repository. Please contact the library at your college.
You may contact digirep@aau.edu.et.with any questions about the repository
Colleges,Institutes in AAU-ETD
Select a college,institute to browse its collections.
Recent Submissions
Determinants of Customer Adoption of Digital Banking: A Customer-Level Analysis in an Interest-Free Bank: Evidence From Hijra Bank Ethiopia
(Addis Ababa University, 2026-06-01) Zebiba Fedlu; Tilahun Teklu
. The factors that influence customers' digital banking adoption decisions in interest-free banks
were explored in this research with the digital literacy, customer trust, customer awareness and
preference for cash as variables. A quantitative cross sectional survey design was employed in
the study and it targeted the customers of Bethel Ansar Branch of Hijra Bank in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia. Data were gathered from 120 customers, analyzed through descriptive statistics,
reliability analysis, correlation and multiple linear regression, using a structured questionnaire.
Overall, the regression model was significant, explaining a fairly large amount of the variance in
digital banking adoption. Both digital literacy and customers' trust were factors that positively
influenced adoption, with trust having the greater influence. Customer awareness did not have
significant influence on adoption, whereas cash preference had significant positive association
with adoption which was opposite to the hypothesized direction. The qualitative results showed
that customers primarily use Hijra Bank's digital services to make balance enquiries, cash
withdrawals and deposits, but they like to pay out and withdraw money using cash. The study
finds that digital literacy and customer trust are the main motives for digital banking adoption in
an interest-free banking context, while the preference for cash also influences digital banking
adoption behavior in the Ethiopian context
Financing Ethiopia’s Future: Market-Driven Domestic Debt as A Growth Catalyst
(Addis Ababa University, 2025-06-02) Haile Meseret; . Alemu Lambamo
In this study, an attempt has been made to find out the influence of market-based domestic debt using the issuance of treasury bills on the economic growth in Ethiopia. In order to conduct the study on the effectiveness of treasury bills issuance on economic growth in the long and short run, this study adopted the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model using the annual time series data from 1993 to 2025. Data have been sourced from The National Bank of Ethiopia, World Bank, and Ministry of Finance. The result obtained in this study indicates that the use of treasury bills as a domestic financing tool has a positive and statistically significant impact on economic growth in the short run and a positive but statistically insignificant impact in the long run. The result aligns with the Ricardian equivalence theory. The government should manage its domestic debt, so that it can serve as an efficient instrument of short-term financing without crowding out private sector credit. In the long term, the development of government bonds should be promoted, where the capital is mainly directed to areas that can enhance sustainable economic growth
Essays on Digital Technologies, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Outcomes in SubSaharan Africa
(Addis Ababa Universtiy, 2026-06-01) Kebede Bekele; Gebeyehu Manie
Over the past few decades, internet access and the adoption of 3G/4G wireless networks have expanded across Africa. This digital transformation brings both opportunities and challenges. In this study, we use panel data from two rounds of the World Bank Enterprise Survey conducted in Zambiabefore and after the COVID19 outbreak to examine the impact of digitalization on firm resilience in a developing country context. Our analysis employs entropy balancing anddifferenceindifferences models and remains robust across various estimation techniques. A key finding is that firms that had adopted digital technologies before the pandemic experienced less revenue loss than other firms. The average effects are large but vary significantly across industries. These findings underscore the potential of digital strategies in mitigating economic disruptions.
The Influence of Social Media Usage on Youth Entrepreneurial Intention: Examining the Mediating Role of Digital Opportunity Recognition: Evidence from Ethiopia
(Addis Ababa University, 2026-05-22) Massame Degelo; Habtamu.E
Youth unemployment remains an acute problem in Ethiopia, with Addis Ababa experiencing a much higher youth unemployment rate of 27.2%, than the country's average rate. Although social media provides an excellent medium through which young people can learn of business opportunities: Thus, this research examined the effect of social media usage on entrepreneurial intention, mediated by digital opportunity recognition, and differential effects of five dimensions of social media: exposure, social influence, learning, opportunity awareness and identity formation. The design used was a quantitative study using surveys. It included 374 young people in Addis Ababa. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation, simple and multiple linear regression analysis, and mediation analysis using Hayes PROCESS macro for SPSS with 5000 bootstrap samples. Social media usage positively correlates to entrepreneurial intention (r=0.394, p<0.001), explaining 15.5% of variance of it. Digital opportunity recognition partially mediated between the relationship (indirect effect =0.0283, 95%CI) explaining 11.7% of total effect. The usage perceived accessibility significantly predicts entrepreneurial intention ( =0.269, p<0.001, R=0.077). Among five social media dimensions, collectively they explain 32.4% of the variance of entrepreneurial intention (R=0.324, F(5,368)=35.31, p<0.001). Social influence is the most significant predictors of entrepreneurial intention ( =0.299, p<0.001), followed by identity formation ( =0.265, p<0.001) and learning ( =0.168, p=0.001). Exposure ( =0.054, p=0.259) and opportunity ( =0.095, p=0.054) were found not to have significant effects which may relate to that a proactive action has greater effects than that of a passive one. On the theoretical front, this paper has provided evidence that entrepreneurial intention is partly mediated by recognition of opportunity in a digital environment, expanding Theory of Planned Behavior and Social Cognitive Theory to a digital entrepreneurship context in developing countries. On a practical front, the research results support the National Entrepreneurship strategy (2020-2025) and Digital Ethiopia 2025 by promoting learning through peers, developing identity and learning in future studies, researchers should XIII incorporate other mediators like entrepreneurial self-efficacy and attitude, and use longer time horizons.
The Impact of Cereal Commercialization on Household Food and Non-Food Expenditures Among Smallholder FarmersiIn Ethiopia.
(Addis Ababa University, 2025-09-01) Kenna Amsalu; Hailu Elias
This study examines the impact of cereal commercialization on the food and non-food expenditure of smallholder farmers in Ethiopia, which is measured by their food expenditure share. Contrary to the common assumption that higher sales volumes indicate welfare, this research measures the economic well-being of households by comparing the share of food expenditure and non-food expenditure from their budget to measure the impact of commercialization on their financial status. Endogenous switching regression and counterfactual analysis to understand the average treatment effect on the treated and the untreated are used to analyze the relationship between commercialization and household budgets. This study draws on data from a larger survey to provide an understanding of this relationship. The results indicate commercialization has generally a desirable impact on households improving their status. On average commercialized cereal farmers are found to have a lower food expenditure share compared to semi-commercialized and subsistent farmers but there are heterogeneity effects that make some farmers better off than others and affect food expenditure shares. The net effect of commercialization differs among households. Among the control variables, larger household sizes, household
heads' literacy, crop rotation agrochemical use, and participation in the AGP program are associated with a decrease in the food expenditure share of households’ budgets. Agricultural policies should be targeted at promoting cereal commercialization among smallholders while building the capacity of smallholders to withstand the economic losses they incur while adopting agricultural technologies that will improve their livelihood