Towards a better understanding of credit terms: A Systematic review of recent credit terms research across the globe

Abstract

The importance of credit terms in determining small enterprises’ access to commercial banks’ credit and their performance cannot be overlooked. However, despite the increasing emphasis by government and various financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Funds, there seems to be no complementing efforts from scholars particularly, in the developing nations, to proffer solutions to small enterprises’ growing difficulties in accessing credit for smooth operations. These concerns prompted the conduct of this study with the aim to provide a better understanding of the concept. Data were extracted from 23 relevant articles published in top 10 Academic Journal Publishers based on the 2024 ranking by World Scientific Publishers and analysed in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) protocol. Findings show that publications on credit terms in the last seven years have been uneven with Africa performing poorly. Findings also show that methodologies employed have been in favour of secondary data while the use of first-generation statistical tools of analysis preponderate. The study therefore recommends that forthcoming review studies be carried out using primary data and second-generation statistical tools for better outputs.