Empirical study on consumers’ reluctance to mobile payments in a developing economy

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the effect of factors that inhibit adoption of mobile payments service in India. Design/methodology/approach Based on the extant literature on mobile payment service and other related literature, factors were identified that drive consumer resistance toward its adoption. It engaged “innovation resistance theory” framework for understanding consumer resistance. The framework addressed five categories of barriers, namely, usage, value, risk, image and tradition that lead to negative perception of innovation, and therefore, induces positive impact on its resistance. Additionally, the study considered a few lesser investigated barriers (habitual use of cash, surveillance, technology) for the study, thus extending the existing theoretical framework. Hypotheses were framed, field data were collected and then analyzed using multivariate techniques. Findings Few interesting observations were made from the study. Usage, image and value barriers hindered adoption of mobile payment service. In case of men, usage, value and image were the primary barriers. For women, usage, image, habitual use of cash and technology acted as barriers that curbed mobile payments service adoption. Additionally, except risk, tradition and surveillance barriers, relationships of all other constructs with adoption intention were moderated by gender. Research limitations/implications This research was limited to the views of the urban population in India who used mobile payments service. The results may vary across geographical contexts because of culture or socioeconomic differences. Practical implications The growth of mobile payment service has remained sluggish in India despite high levels of digitization. The study results will offer valuable insights to the Indian business managers and policymakers to identify what action plan needs to be instituted to make mobile payments service more attractive and acceptable to users. Originality/value This empirical study extended and tested the classical innovation resistance theory framework by adding three less studied barriers (surveillance, habitual use of cash and technology) in a developing nation, thus enriching the current literature on consumer resistance toward mobile payments. It also examined the moderating effect of gender on mobile payments service adoption.