The Effect of Mobile Payment Technology Fraud Perception on Customer Intention to Continously Use the Service: A Study Moderated by Generation X, Y, and Z from a Developing Economy

Abstract

The issue of mobile payment technology fraud or mobile money (MM) Fraud is relatively new in the context of the general concept of traditional fraud, as it is almost two decades old. Although fairly new, the subject of MM Fraud is of particular interest to the MM service as the service has been a revolutionary tool in transforming financial service delivery on the African continent and in developing economies (DE) across the globe. However, the subject of fraud, although is of interest to service providers, is yet to gain much traction in information systems (IS) research due to a number of reasons. The following has been ranked among the possible reasons: first, researchers’ constant preoccupation with the success story of MM service in enabling financial inclusion regardless of geographical location, second, the persistent focus on making MM service technology adoption easy and to gain wider reach and then third, the general lack of focus from investment into research to understand the subject matter. This neglect has possible ramifications on customer trust and future sustainability and viability of the service. This thesis, hence, examines the possible effect of the perception of mobile payment technology fraud on customer intention to continuously use the service in the context of a developing economy and moderated by customer’s or user’s generation. In this thesis, four key objectives were therefore spelt out to be achieved. The first objective was to “undertake an empirical examination of the current perceptual state of MM service users” in the face of incessant fraud attackers. Second, the researcher sought to “examine how this current perceptual state of users affect their possible avoidance behaviour” due to fraud attacks. The third objective was to further “examine the effect of user’s possible avoidance behaviour on their future continuous use of the service”. Then finally, the possible “moderating effect of MM service users’ generation group on the relationship between their threat perception and avoidance behaviour”. The purpose is to provide both practical and theoretical understanding of the issue of MM fraud and its potential effect on the sustainability of the service. Three main theories were used as a basis in order to achieve the purpose, the Technology Threat Avoidance Theory (TTAT), the Generational Theory, and the Theory of Intention to Continuously Use a Technology. By adopting a positivist paradigm, a quantitative research approach through a survey method was adopted to test 21 hypotheses using data collected from 384 mobile payment technology or mobile money users in Ghana. In achieving the first objective, data from respondents were empirically examined based on concepts of rate of subscription or registration, specificity of use, and frequency of use. Ownership of social media account served as prelude to familiarity with modern technology. The research found ownership of social media account to be eighty-two per cent [82%] depicting high rate of technology familiarity among respondents. The rate of subscription or registration was found to be above ninety six percent [96.4%], and the rate of specificity of use was i.e., whether a user actually uses mobile payment system or MM for transactions, recorded over ninety six percent [96.6%]. In addition, regularity or frequency of use recorded above six percent [6.3%] for low, thirty percent [30.7%] for moderate, and sixty three percent [63%] for high. It was empirically established that the current perceptual state of MM is a positive one as there is still high patronage of the service. To achieve the second objective, six constructs were used to examine users threat perception: perceived security threat, susceptibility threat, severity threat, perceived effectiveness, and self efficacy. With respect to perceived security threat, the study found that perceived security threat has an effect on the avoidance behaviour of the MM user. The higher the perceived security threat, the more likely a user will avoid using the service. Regarding susceptibility threat, the study established that the more users felt susceptible to MM fraud attacks, the more likely they are to avoid using the service. For severity threat, the study found that there was a negative relationship between the severity of the threat and avoidance behaviour, thus the more severe MM fraud attacks maybe on the user, the less likelihood of they avoiding the service. For self-efficacy, the study established that when self-efficacy among respondents is high the level of avoidance reduces. With regards to perceived effectiveness, it was also established that the higher the perceived effectiveness of MM fraud preventive measures, the lower or less likely the avoidance behaviour. Overall, it was established that based on the stated constructs, perception of MM fraud no matter how much or the nature of it has a consequential effect on avoidance behaviour. For the third objective, the study established that the higher the avoidance behaviour today, the less likely it is that users will continually use or return to use the service in the future. As a predictor to the future patronage of the service, the continuous use of the service provided an insight into the future sustainability or viability of the service in the face of current fraud issues. For the final objective that sought to examine whether there will be differences in the relationship between threat perception and avoidance behaviour among users when put under various generational cohorts. Users were grouped under three generation cohorts i.e., Generation X, Y and Z, and were examined on each of the six constructs. Overall, the study did not find a significant effect of a user’s generation on the relationship between their threat perception and avoidance behaviour. Differences were established through a multi-group analysis among the three generations although findings were not significant In all, the study found that the issue of MM fraud perception, did not significantly affect the behaviour of users to avoid using the service. This was an interesting finding as it was in contradiction to TTAT’s position that the threat associated with a technology will cause avoidance from the user. However, it also partially supports the TTAT’s assertion that in the event where the technology cannot be avoided, the user will adopt a coping strategy or mechanism to minimize the possibly negative effect or pain associated with using the said technology. In the event the technology is avoided by the user, the study found that avoidance today was a good predictor of the user’s intention to continuously avoid using the technology in the future. The findings of this study, makes contribution to research, theory, policy, and practice in the following regard. First, this study makes major contribution to research by expanding the MM research from financial inclusion and economic gain to the issue of fraud and sustainability of the service in the long term. Theoretically, the study introduces and incorporates the concept of generation differences to the TTAT when studying technology adoption and use, as well as establishing whether the TTAT applicability and adaptability to the specific technology of mobile money payment due to it near indispensability. It further contributes to the postulation of that current avoidance behaviours distinct to future continuous use. Regarding policy contributions, this study provides an empirical evidence and confirmation on the level of subscription or patronage and degree of use of the service. With the service experiencing great success, the need for drastic measures to be taken to deal with the constant issue of fraud and its consequential effect in the long term cannot be overemphasized.