Mobile money usage and continuance intention among micro enterprises in an emerging market – the mediating role of agent credibility
| Date | 18 April 2020 |
| Published date | 18 April 2020 |
| Pages | 97-117 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JSIT-03-2019-0062 |
| Author | Raphael Odoom,John Paul Kosiba |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Information & communications technology |
Mobile money usage and
continuance intention among
micro enterprises in an emerging
market –the mediating role of
agent credibility
Raphael Odoom
Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship,
University of Ghana Business School and Department of Marketing Management,
University of Johannesburg, and
John Paul Kosiba
Department of Marketing, University of Professional Studies, Accra, Ghana
Abstract
Purpose –Currently, mobile payments have become pervasive in electronic commerce and are steadily
increasing in many regions worldwide. In the literature, however, its continued usage among consumers is
deemed equivocal,particularly among small businesses. This study uses the unified theoryof acceptance and
use of technology (UTAUT) to examine mobilemoney continuance intention among micro enterprises in an
emerging/less-developedeconomy. This study aims to explore the mediating role of agent credibilityon this
relationship,given that these agents are contingent actors between serviceproviders and mobile money users.
Design/methodology/approach –After a preliminary qualitativeenquiry, quantitative data collected
from 584 microenterprises were tested from the UTAUT perspective,using structural equation modelling.
Findings –Findingsfrom the study establish the applicabilityof the UTAUT in explaining the antecedents,
motivationsand continuance intention of mobile money usage among micro enterprises.Further, beyond their
direct effects,the UTAUT conditions have indirect effectson the continuance intention through their effecton
perceivedagent credibility.
Originality/value –The findings provide evidenceto issues of research and managerial interest, offering
insightfulimplications to the academic and practitioner communities,respectively.
Keywords Mobile payment, Continuance intention, Micro enterprises, Mobile money,
Sub-Saharan Africa, UTAUT
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Mobile commerce and mobile payment systems continue to grow, largely because of the
widespread possession and usage of mobile devices among consumers in both developed
and less-developed economies (Baabdullah et al.,2019). Indeed, it can be argued that
digitisation and virtual currencies have amplified inclusive monetary innovations for the
“unbanked poor”(Chipere, 2018). The term mobile payment (also referred to as mobile
money) describes a system whereby mobile terminals (such as mobile phones) are used to
The study acknowledges funding support from UGBS Research and Conferences Committee.
Mobile money
usage
97
Received24 March 2019
Revised19 July 2019
28November 2019
Accepted17 March 2020
Journalof Systems and
InformationTechnology
Vol.22 No. 1, 2020
pp. 97-117
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1328-7265
DOI 10.1108/JSIT-03-2019-0062
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/1328-7265.htm
conduct payment of bills, goods and services (Dahlberget al., 2008). According to the global
system for mobile association (GSMA, 2013), mobile money uses Information and
communications technology and non-bank retail channels to extend access to financial
services to clients who cannot be easily and profitably reached with traditional, branch-
based financial services. The literature points out that key benefits of mobile payments,
compared with online and traditional payment systems, are their ubiquity and immediacy,
which enable users to make payments from anywhere and at any time (Zhou, 2013). On
average, the industry processesabout US$1bn worth of daily transactions globally, reaching
over US$2.4bn in overall direct revenue. It is estimated that the typical mobile money
customer transacts (cash-in and cash-out)an average amount of US$188 per month (GSMA,
2018).
In several less-developed economies,mobile money services exist as alternative financial
programmes aimed at accelerating the development of mobile ecosystems for the
underserved or unbanked and micro enterprises (Demirguc-Kunt and Klapper, 2012).
However, extant streamsof research on mobile money services have mostly concentrated on
consumers (Mallat, 2007;Murendo et al., 2018;Osabuohien and Karakara, 2018). Even
though mobile phones have been said to influence the supply chain of micro-enterprises
situated across Sub-Saharan Africa (Boateng et al.,2014), empirical studies on mobile
payment systems in micro trading activities across the region remain limited. There is,
therefore, a need for more enquiry into mobile money services and micro-trading activities.
More recently, some research studies have also raised the question as to whether mobile
payments are still relevantin the fintech era (Iman, 2018).
In addition to this lacuna, extant studies from developing economies on the subject
remain lopsided towards the determinants of mobile money adoption (Maduku et al.,2016;
Gichuki and Mulu-Mutuku, 2018), with scarce investigations on its continuance intention.
Although the current situation in developing economies is favourable for the development
and continuous usage of mobile money services, several challenges still remain. Most
importantly, there has been an increase in reported fraud attempts by some unscrupulous
persons with regard to mobile money services (Appiah, 2017). Even more fundamental to
these issues is the apparent susceptibility of some intermediate actors that are involved in
mobile money transactions(He et al.,2003). As a result, subscribers and customersof mobile
money service are constantly cautioned against sharing their pin numbers with agents
(Appiah, 2017). Given that the increase in mobile money fraud, among other challenges, is
likely to discourage individual consumers and micro traders from using the service
(Demirguc-Kunt and Klapper, 2012), further investigations across different contexts,
particularly on continuanceintention of current users, are needed.
The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model is one of the
most conducive and widely used models in explaining user acceptance for information
technology (IT). It is based on a review and consolidation of eight earlier models used to
explain information systems(IS) usage: the technology acceptance model (TAM); the theory
of reasoned action; the motivational model; the theory of planned behaviour (TPB); the
model of personal computer utilisation (MPCU); innovation diffusion theory (IDT); the
combined TAM and TPB models; and models reflecting social cognition theory (Alshare
et al.,2019;Khalilzadeh et al.,2017;Oshlyansky et al.,2007;Venkatesh et al.,2003).
Following this development,there have been calls for further researchto extend the UTAUT
model, with the inclusion of socio-economic characteristics and especially security-related
factors as mediators to improve its explanatory power and predictive accuracy (Talukder
et al.,2019;Ejemeyovwi et al.,2019;Ejemeyovwi and Osabuohien,2018).
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