Consumer payment choice during the crisis in Europe: a heterogeneous behaviour?

In this research paper we investigate the use of payment media from consumers during a financial crisis. The scene is Europe in 2015 and the aftermath - or the very peak for some countries - of the Eurozone crisis. The contrast in the scene is augmented through researching countries at the centre of Eurozone crisis versus far more stable Economies. In the first group and in order of severity of the crisis' impact: Greece, Cyprus and to a lesser extent Spain. In the latter group Sweden and UK. We deployed a quantitative survey-based study for which the instrument was originally constructed in the medium of English and translated (and back-translated) in Greek and Spanish, and was delivered both hand-to-hand (printout) and online via Survey monkey. Descriptive statistics are presented over the totally 1003 gathered questionnaires and a comparative analysis is performed illustrating indeed an heterogeneous behaviour among the five countries under investigation. All the above comprise the empirical part of our research, that follows naturally and complements the theoretical one: a deductive model of the hierarchy of payment media - and the respective changes of - during periods of financial distress. Within that model our main hypothesis is formed around the regional differences and the impact of the crisis in the use of cash as a payment medium, both confirmed by our empirical evidence to a large extent. So during the Eurozone crisis: a) the use of cash as a payment medium is evident, and b) this is more the case in countries mostly affected from the crisis - most notably Greece.