Effect of Gratification on User Attitude and Continuance Use of Mobile Payment Technologies: A Developing Country Context

Abstract

Advances in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has led to the rapid and wide diffusion of mobile phones in Africa. This gives consumers in the financial services industry many new services. Thus, mobile payments emanating from Financial Technology have enabled individuals to carry out transactions from anywhere and at any time on their mobile devices. However, despite the numerous merits of this disruptive technology, there exist limited studies in this area of Information systems research especially in sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana. The attention of extant research has largely been placed with the initial adoption and use of mobile payments. Post-adoption studies on mobile payments have seldom been carried out. In addition, previous studies on initial adoption have largely focused on the functional benefits derived from mobile payments and how it influences the adoption and use of this service. For these studies, mobile payment is a service that gives functional value to its users, rather than a non-functional one. To fill this gap, this study leans on the foundations of the Uses and Gratifications Theory and a quantitative survey approach as its methodological lens to identify and examine the gratifications driving the attitude and continuance use of mobile payments in Ghana specifically Mobile Money and Mobile Banking. By analyzing data in SmartPLS, the results indicate that Integrative, Ease of use, and Usefulness gratifications were found to significantly influence attitude towards mobile payment use. In addition, Attitude towards mobile payment use was found to significantly influence the continuance use intention of mobile payments. Furthermore, the study examined the moderating effects of income and education on the various constructs of the model adopted for this study. Findings suggest that creating a favorable ICT environment will positively influence users to adopt and use mobile payment services. An enabling ICT environment in the form of ICT access and infrastructure will equip individuals with the necessary tools to conduct mobile payments. Similarly, an enabling environment in the form of ICT legislation and policy will ensure that the user’s financial information is protected and secured. Finally, the study recommends future research on the Uses and Gratification Theory in comparatively studying other developing countries.