Consumption values, socio economic and product related factors influencing Ghanaians use of mobile payment
Date
2020
Authors
Akasreku, Frank
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Abstract
The traditional method of payment for goods and services (cash and carry) is gradually paving way for mobile payment in the 21st century, considering the convenience and reduced cost consumers enjoy and the competitive advantage mobile payment provides to marketers. Yet, the use and diffusion of mobile payment, compared to cash payment in Ghana is relatively slow. It was therefore important to investigate the factors that helps or hinder attitudes and the adoption of mobile payment technology. Investigations through a review of literature shows that much of the mobile payment research has been dedicated to understanding customer's intention to adopt mobile payment. A few studies have examined drivers of actual adoption. Most of the studies make use of attitude-based theories, such as the theory of reasoned action, the technology acceptance model, the theory of planned behaviour, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology and extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. Each of these theories are not only used in isolation, but generally overemphasis the role of psychological determinants but omit the contributions of product-related attributes provided by the diffusion innovation theory and the values consumers enjoy from the use of mobile payment provided by the consumption value theory. Also rarely examined are the socio-economic factors capable of driving decisions to adopt or not to adopt a technology. The isolated and fragmented use of the theories provide narrow focus and incomprehensive explanation of drivers of technology adoption, especially for that related to money payment. For a more holistic explanation, it is recommended that an integrated model be developed. This is particularly important for a country like Ghana where studies on mobile payment are not only limited, but the country is socio-economically and socio-culturally different from developed countries where individual technology adoption theories have been tested. With the failure to understand Ghanaian related factors, mobile payment may not be fully embraced or may fail. This study therefore integrated aspects of the diffusion of innovation theory, consumption values theory and extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology to examine the extent to which consumption values (functional, social, price, hedonic, conditional and epistemic values), socio-economic (peers, family, social class, and education) and product-related (relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, cost, communication and trialability) factors impact on actual use of mobile payment through their influence on attitudes. The study also examined the extent to which the actual adoption predicts the intention to reuse. A conceptual model was developed and tested with quantitative data collected conveniently and purposively from 400 respondents who were Executive MBA students and lecturers. Structural equation modelling was the main statistical technique employed to analyze the data and test the hypotheses. The results revealed that none of the socio-economic factors significantly impacted attitudes towards mobile payment. Consumption values, such as price value, functional value hedonic value and additionally behavioural beliefs significantly impacted attitudes. The product-related factors that significantly impacted attitudes were complexity, cost and trialability. Attitudes influenced adoption, which with complexity, trialability, and compatibility directly and significantly drove the intention to reuse mobile payment, while cost did not. The findings of this study do not only have wider marketing implications for effective strategies aimed at designing and promoting a greater adoption of mobile payment, but they also serve to add to the literature on the emerging body of knowledge about mobile payment technology adoption from a developing country perspective. The tested integrated model which had explanatory powers of 81.2% of attitude, 67.8% of reuse intention can be used to examine drivers of adoption of other technologies in other developing and emerging economies
Description
A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Philosophy Doctor (PhD) in Marketing in the School of Business Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, 2020