<![CDATA[The financial performance of micro, small, and medium enterprises (SMEs) is shaped not only by the availability of capital or market conditions, but also by the socio-demographic characteristics of the entrepreneurs who manage them. Despite growing scholarly attention to financial literacy and its influence on business performance, the relationships between demographic factors particularly ethnicity, gender, and financial capability remain scattered across disconnected bodies of literature spanning multiple disciplines and geographic contexts. This systematic literature review synthesizes findings from 31 studies with the aim of constructing an integrative framework that explains how demographic factors shape financial behavior and, in turn, influence SME performance. Articles analyzed in this review were published between 2015 and 2024 and selected using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) protocol. Applying stringent inclusion and exclusion criteria, articles were sourced from the Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases. The findings reveal that financial capability, encompassing knowledge, skills, attitudes, and self-confidence functions as a primary mediating variable between demographic characteristics and the quality of financial decision-making. Gender influences access to financial resources, risk tolerance, and entrepreneurial orientation, while ethnicity and cultural values shape financing preferences, trust in formal financial institutions, and long-term planning behavior. Furthermore, financial inclusion and access to formal credit serve as factors that either strengthen or weaken these relationships across diverse national and cultural contexts. Taken together, these findings underscore the need for policy interventions that account for demographic factors, as well as the development of financial education programs that are responsive to the diverse needs of SMEs.]]>
