Who uses mobile money, and what factors affect its adoption process? Evidence from smallholder households in Cote d’Ivoire

Who uses mobile money, and what factors affect its adoption process? This study analyzes mobile money adoption process among smallholder households in Côte d’Ivoire using the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) Smallholder Household Survey 2016. Based on the hypothesis that mobile money adoption process goes through five steps, a sequential logit model is estimated to identify factors affecting each step of the process. Overall, the findings show that mobile money users are in majority male, in urban area, more educated, belong to social network, and have bank or microfinance account. Adoption process is affected by demographic factors such as age, sex and marital status; social interaction variables including membership in agricultural cooperative, belonging to saving and credit group, and institutional variables such as the level of education and being clients of banks or microfinance. In all the steps, educated and those having bank account are more likely to go far in the adoption process. Women are disadvantaged, however once adopted, they are more likely to trust the mobile money services more than men. Policies that promote adoption of mobile money services in rural area, encourage women adoption, and participation in social interactions networks are key to improve access to financial services among smallholder households in Côte d’Ivoire.