Consumers' adoption and continuance intention to use mobile payment services

Abstract

The African continent continues to register an increase in the uptake of smartphones and other personal digital assistants, all of which are capable of making mobile payments. Consequently, mobile payment service providers continue to hold optimistic views about the future of mobile payments. Despite the proliferation of smartphone adoption in African countries, little is known about the factors that influence the adoption and continued use of the novel technology such as mobile payment services, particularly in developing countries such as South Africa. Although there are growing research streams in this regard, there have been conflicting reports, inconsistencies and contradictions in previous research findings that need to be explained. In particular, there is growing research examining factors that predict the adoption and continuance intention to use new technologies such as mobile payment services. These studies are predominantly Western-based. Not much research has been extended to the African continent to determine how generalisable the results are to a wider context. Due to cultural, social and economic differences, Western theories may not be equally applicable in developing countries. This calls for more research to validate and continuously update and streamline Western theories in developing countries. The primary purpose of this study is to determine the predictors of the adoption and continuance intention to use mobile payment services. The study uses a three-step approach. First, the study tests the ability of the modified technology readiness index (TRI) to predict adoption, and also tests the moderating effect of gender on the predictors of the adoption of mobile payment services. Second, the study tests the applicability and ability of the extended expectation-confirmation model, in the context of information technology (E-ECM-IT), to predict continuance intention to use mobile payment services. The moderating effect of gender on the predictors of continuance intention is also examined. After the validation of the two models, a synthesised model of the TRI and the E-ECM-IT is proposed to predict both adoption and continuance intention in a single study – a novel perspective not covered in depth thus far in existing research. Data were collected from a convenience sample by using an online South African consumer panel of an international research firm that was contracted to collect data for analysis. A total of 416 respondents were sampled, comprising consumers aged 18 years and older who owned a credit card and who had downloaded a mobile payment application (‘app’) at the time of the survey. The sampling units were taken from all nine provinces of South Africa. A self-administered online questionnaire with seven-point Likert scales was used to obtain information pertaining to their adoption and continuance intention to use mobile payment services. First, the study used multiple regression analysis to test the hypotheses set to measure adoption of mobile payment services, grounded in the modified TRI, and to examine the moderating effect of gender on the predictors. Second, a partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) approach was employed to predict continuance intention, in which the moderating effect of gender was also examined. Third, a structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to validate the proposed integrated model, measuring both adoption and continuance intention. This study found the main adoption drivers to be convenience and compatibility. The key barriers to adoption include insecurity, perceived cost, and perceived risk. Contrary to previous reports, this study found that optimism, innovativeness and discomfort are not significant predictors of the adoption of mobile payment services. The results of the regression analysis show that the drivers of mobile payment services are more important to consumers than inhibitors in influencing adoption. It is therefore recommended that service providers focus more on the convenience and compatibility of mobile payments to enhance adoption levels. Of the eight predictors tested in this study, the results reveal that gender only moderates the effect of convenience on the adoption of mobile payment services. With regard to continuance intention, the majority of the hypothesised paths were confirmed except one: the relationship between perceived ease of use and continuance intention. Although not expected in this study, this result corroborates findings of other previous studies in the literature that suggest that the impact of ease of use on continuance intention to use any new technology is lessened as users gain more experience in using that technology. The results suggest that the expectation confirmation model in the context of information technology (ECM-IT) could be an alternative model to the E-ECM-IT to predict continuance. This is because the ECM-IT does not include perceived ease of use as a post-adoption antecedent to predict continuance intention. Thus, the results underscore the importance of re-testing and validating Western models in the African context. Satisfaction remains the most significant predictor of continuance intention. Therefore, service providers must focus more on customer satisfaction by avoiding transaction and billing errors or security breaches, among other factors, to enhance continued use. The moderating effect of gender on predictors of continuance intention was also examined, and results show that gender does not play a significant moderating role.