Adoption of cashless payment systems among consumers

Abstract

The primary goal of any national payment system is to ensure smooth circulation of money. An efficient and secure payment system triggers economic activity and electronic payment systems in particular, benefit both the customer s and the country s economic growth. Diverse payment systems function ranging from paper-based ones where the instruments are physically exchanged and settlements worked out manually, to the sophisticated electronic fund transfer systems which are fully secured and transactions settled on a gross, real-time basis. Researchers have used various technology adoption models to predict their usage. The purpose of the study is to investigate the key driving factors responsible for the consumers adoption of cashless payment system. A descriptive study method using the paradigm of post - positivism was employed with a sample of 390 respondents from Bangalore who have used cashless payments. They were selected by purposive sampling using snowball sampling. The study is based on both primary and secondary sources of information. The current study extended the UTAUT with new constructs Habit, Hedonic Motivation, Price Value, Trust, Innovativeness, Perceived Risk, Attitude Towards Using Cashless Payment System and Anxiety. The findings of the study reveal that the factors namely Effort Expectancy, Performance Expectancy, Social Influence, Habit, Facilitating Conditions, Hedonic Motivation, Price Value, Trust, Innovativeness, Perceived Risk, Attitude Towards Using Cashless Payment System and Anxiety have significant influence on the consumers cashless payment usage. A close positive correlation of cashless payment systems usage with the independent variables was seen. The gender, age, income, occupation and educational qualification of the respondents has a significant role to play in their willingness to use cashless payments. The study gives an insight on what the considerations to look into while launching a new payment system are and the means to deal with consumers to adopt and use the same.