Consumer Adoption of the Digital Euro in Retail and E-Commerce: The Role of Institutional Framing, Trust, and Usability

Retail and e-commerce environments are important contexts for policymakers to address the adoption of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), as consumer acceptance determines their practical viability. This study investigated the determinants of the adoption of the digital euro in retail and e-commerce environments by focusing on institutional framing, trust, and perceived usability. Based on technology adoption theory and institutional trust literature, a conceptual model was developed and empirically tested using survey data collected from 411 respondents across EU member states, with 362 valid observations retained after cleaning of the data. Structural equation modeling was utilized to evaluate both measurement validity and structural relationships. The results indicate that institutional framing is the strongest predictor of adoption intention in retail and e-commerce payment contexts, exerting direct and indirect effects through trust. Trust significantly influenced adoption, confirming its role as a foundational condition for engagement with sovereign digital currencies. Perceived usability also contributes positively to adoption, although its effect is weaker than that of institutional framing. Mediation analysis confirms that trust partially mediated the relationship between institutional framing and adoption intention. Moderation analysis also shows that usability does not significantly alter the trust-adoption relationship. These findings extend traditional technology adoption models by demonstrating that CBDC adoption is shaped more strongly by institutional credibility and communication than by usability alone. The study provides important implications for policymakers, as well as for e- commerce platforms and digital payment providers, highlighting the need for design and strategies centered around trust when implementing the digital euro.