ADOPTION OF FINTECH AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS: THE CASE FOR DIGITAL LENDING PLATFORM IN MYANMAR

Abstract

In recent years, fintech (financial technology), the new industry that uses technology and innovation to improve and compete with traditional delivery of financial services through mobile and digital platforms, has been playing an increasing role in shaping financial and banking sector landscapes. In emerging markets such as Myanmar, where there is no credit bureaus or access to reliable transactional data due to lack of banking infrastructure, the use of non-traditional data accessed from mobile phones though financial technology can enable consumer lending to create verifiable digital credit footprint and facilitate financial inclusion, which can ultimately bring about upward mobility and financial stability. This thesis explores the factors that influence the early adoption of digital lending fintech platform via mobile application technology within Myanmar. Based on the extension of technology adoption model (TAM) constructs including (a) perceived usefulness, (b) perceived ease of use, (c) perceived compatibility, (d) perceived trust, (e) perceived credibility, (f) perceived risk, and (g) perceived cost, the dissertation demonstrates that the perceived credibility and perceived compatibility are the key predictors to early fintech adoption whereas perceived cost negatively influence the early adoption of digital lending via mobile application.