DECONSTRUCTING THE WALLET: EFFECTS OF SOCIAL NORMS, TRUST AND PERCEIVED RISK ON THE ADOPTION OF MOBILE WALLETS

Abstract

This study examined the role of social norms on the adoption of technology-based applications, specifically mobile wallets. The study explicated social norms into three distinct constructs – descriptive norm (DN), provincial norm (PN) and subjective norm (SN), with the addition of trust and perceived risk (PR) constructs. The constructs were tested to reveal their effects on individuals’ behavioural intentions (BI) to adopt mobile wallets. Results from this study’s quantitative approach revealed that DN, PN, trust and PR were positively associated with BI, while the association of SN on BI was insignificant. Furthermore, results found partial mediation effects of trust and PR on the association of PN on BI and a full mediation effect of trust and PR on the association of DN on BI. This study demonstrated the importance of explicating social norms to identify underlying social influence mechanisms, where findings revealed differing effects of the distinct social norm constructs on the adoption of mobile wallets. Thus, the results of this study provided theoretical insights on the adoption of technology and practical insights for practitioners to advance the mobile wallet industry.