Digital Payment & Technology Adoption
Explaining why consumers say they value privacy but still tap their phones to pay.
Digital payment and technology adoption research investigates the factors that drive or inhibit consumer uptake of mobile payments, tap-and-go systems, financial technology applications, and other digital transaction platforms. This field extends foundational frameworks such as the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by integrating constructs including perceived risk, system trust, personal innovativeness, and the privacy paradox to explain adoption decisions in contexts where convenience and security concerns compete. My research demonstrates that consumer willingness to adopt digital payment technologies depends on a complex interplay of utilitarian perceptions, social influence, trust calibration, and culturally shaped risk attitudes. Through survey-based structural equation modeling and cross-national comparative designs, I have identified the specific factors that distinguish adopters from non-adopters across demographic and cultural segments.
Why This Matters Now
Digital payment adoption has accelerated dramatically worldwide, yet adoption rates and consumer concerns vary significantly across markets. The emergence of cryptocurrency, central bank digital currencies, and AI-driven financial advisory services has expanded the scope of technology adoption decisions consumers must navigate. Understanding the psychological and cultural drivers of fintech adoption is essential for both industry practitioners designing payment experiences and policy-makers crafting regulatory frameworks that balance innovation with consumer protection.
Dr. Pentina's Contribution
My research has made substantial contributions to the TAM extension literature in the fintech domain. A foundational study published in the International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, with over 250 citations, demonstrated that perceived usefulness, ease of use, personal innovativeness, and perceived security all significantly influence US consumers' intentions to adopt mobile payments. This work established mobile payments as a distinct context requiring TAM augmentation with trust and security constructs. Subsequent research explored tap-and-go payment adoption among US millennials, finding that risk perception, system trust, and socio-cultural influence all shape attitudes beyond traditional TAM predictors. My cross-cultural investigation of the privacy paradox in information-sensitive mobile app adoption, comparing US and Chinese consumers, revealed that perceived benefits often outweigh privacy concerns in adoption decisions, but the calculus varies systematically by culture and information sensitivity. I have also examined how social network ties influence mobile application adoption and how collaborative consumption platforms manage trust and risk.
Key Findings
- Perceived usefulness, ease of use, personal innovativeness, and security perceptions all significantly drive mobile payment adoption
- The Technology Acceptance Model requires augmentation with trust and security constructs to explain fintech adoption adequately
- Risk perception and system trust influence tap-and-go payment attitudes beyond traditional TAM predictors
- Cross-culturally, perceived benefits of app usage outweigh privacy concerns, but the privacy calculus varies by culture and information sensitivity
- Social network ties and peer influence play a meaningful role in mobile application adoption decisions
- In collaborative consumption contexts like ridesharing, risk does not directly affect intentions but operates through consumer trust
Selected Publications
Mobile payments adoption by US consumers: an extended TAM
International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 45
Exploring privacy paradox in information-sensitive mobile app adoption: A cross-cultural comparison
Comput. Hum. Behav., vol. 65
Who do you choose? Comparing perceptions of human vs robo-advisor in the context of financial services
Journal of Services Marketing
Mobile Application Adoption by Young Adults: A Social Network Perspective
Adoption of social networks marketing by SMEs: exploring the role of social influences and experience in technology acceptance
International Journal of Internet Marketing and Advertising, vol. 7
Exploring factors influencing US millennial consumersβ use of tap-and-go payment technology
The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, vol. 30
Who uses mobile apps to meet strangers: The roles of core traits and surface characteristics
Journal of Information Privacy and Security, vol. 13
Understanding the roles of risk and trust in the context of collaborative consumption: A test of competing models
Journal of Customer Behaviour
Research Summary
Dr. Pentina's research on digital payment and technology adoption extends the Technology Acceptance Model with constructs essential for understanding fintech adoption, including trust calibration, security perceptions, privacy paradox dynamics, and social influence. Her work demonstrates that mobile payment adoption is driven by a combination of utilitarian benefits, personal innovativeness, and culturally contingent risk assessments. Cross-cultural comparisons of US and Chinese consumers reveal that the privacy paradox operates differently across societies, with perceived benefits dominating adoption decisions in both contexts but through culturally distinct mechanisms. Published in the International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Computers in Human Behavior, and the International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, this research stream provides actionable frameworks for fintech design and marketing strategy.