Electronic Money Use: Evidence from Survey Data

This chapter sets out to analyse the factors influencing cashless payment instrument use (i.e., e-money use), both by considering these instruments’ specific attributes and by combining the assumptions of the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) with Technology Acceptance Models (TAM). A survey on undergraduate students has been conducted in order to identify the personal, sociological, and technological variables involved in e-money use. The proposed model has been tested on students’ payment habits in using credit, debit, and prepaid cards. Overall we found that personal and technological attitudes, social and control beliefs, and payment instruments features (in terms of perceived efficacy and efficiency) are linked with electronic money use. We note that the identification of variables affecting adoption by retail customers could be useful for both regulators and financial institutions. Regulators, usually concerned with the behaviour of the institutions under their jurisdiction, could use these findings when drafting prudential and supervision rules governing financial institutions offering payment services. By recognizing issues that affect the behaviour of their customer segments, financial intermediaries can take advantage of aspects that produce differences and changes in payment practices, developing their product range in response.