Young consumers’ valuations of new payment services

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to gain a more in-depth understanding of the factors influencing how young consumers value mobile payment services and to develop a conceptual model that describes this process. Design/methodology/approach: Content analysis combined with interaction analysis was applied to empirical material consisting of nine focus group interviews with a total of 55 young adults who discussed mobile shopping. The results were further analysed by drawing upon previous research and theoretical conjectures regarding the role of network effects in valuation. The results of the analysis were used to develop a conceptual model of the valuation process for mobile payment services. Findings: The study finds that network effects play a major role in consumers’ adoption of mobile payment services. It is not certain that the adoption of consumer payment services is voluntary. In addition, there is also a trade-off between perceived convenience and security in young consumers’ valuations of the service. Originality/value: In contrast to previous studies, where models have set up benefits and costs as separate entities affecting value, the resulting model recognises that different factors have two sides, one negative and one positive, in turn affecting the value of the service