EXAMINING SME OWNERS' WILLINGNESS TO SUBMIT PERSONAL AND BUSINESS DOCUMENTS AS A PROXY FOR TRUST AND CREDITWORTHINESS: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL COLLATERAL PARADIGM

Abstract Moving beyond the conventional analysis of tangible assets and financial documentation as mere bureaucratic requirements, this research posits that an SME owner's willingness to submit personal and business documents constitutes a critical, non-physical form of collateral. It symbolizes trust, transparency, and commitment to institutional scrutiny. Employing a quantitative survey methodology with 45 management staff from selected Nigerian commercial banks, the study utilized descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis to test its hypotheses. The findings robustly confirm that significant documentation is required by banks (χ² = 47.945 > 7.82) and that proper record-keeping is intrinsically linked to business growth (χ² = 59.737 > 7.82). Crucially, it reveals that a notable minority (13.3%) of SME owners are unwilling to provide required documentation, a barrier not fully explained by a lack of capacity. This study concludes that the documentation process is not only a filter for creditworthiness but also a psychological threshold for entrepreneurs. The paper argues that enhancing SME access to finance requires interventions that address these psychological and trust-based barriers, alongside traditional financial and technical support. Recommendations include designing client engagement strategies that reduce perceived intrusion and building institutional trust to convert psychological reluctance into cooperative transparency. Keywords: Small and medium-scale enterprises, Psychological Collateral, SME Financing, Trust Architecture, Documentation Barrier, Creditworthiness Signaling.