Paying for goods and services using a mobile phone: exploring mobile payment use and adoption

Mobile payment is an application of mobile commerce which provides the user with an ability to pay for goods and services using their mobile device. It is a payment mechanism that gives the consumer an ‘anytime anywhere’ freedom to perform a transaction. The purpose of this exploratory study is to understand what factors inhibit or facilitate adoption of mobile payment, in a New Zealand context. To study the potential links between these factors and mobile payment adoption a hybrid of two adoption models (the Technology Acceptance Model – TAM, and the Input Output Process model – IPO) were used to build the research framework. A corresponding questionnaire was designed and data were gathered from a total of 267 respondents. The findings about ‘control relationships’ such as between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness, or perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and intention to use were compliant with prior work. The study identified service awareness as an important factor affecting the adoption of mobile payment. It was also found that consumer demographic characteristics such as income, professional status, ethnicity, and mobile phone spending may play significant moderating roles. The study contributes to the understanding of the dynamics of mobile payment adoption in the local context, and identifies avenues for future work in the area