Motives of mobile payment adoption during COVID-19 pandemic in Sri Lanka : a holistic approach of both customers' and retailers' perspectives

Purpose - This study aims to investigate the motives of mobile payment adoption from both customers’ and retailers’ perspectives in Sri Lanka during the COVID-19 pandemic period. It also aims to compare the motives of mobile payment adoption across rural and urban contexts. Design/methodology/approach -The study employs a mixed-method approach with a concurrent research design. Both a survey of customers and in-depth interviews of managers in retail companies are used. Findings - The study discloses that performance expectancy and facilitating conditions (PEFC), Hedonic motivation (HM) and perceived technology security (PTS) as significant motives for customers to adopt mobile payment during this pandemic period. Such findings are confirmed by the four challenges disclose by the retailers. The unfamiliarity of customers, lack of employees’ knowledge on mobile payment systems, poor management orientation and lack of computer literacy of customers are the main challenges from the retailers’ perspectives. Further, it shows, though PEFC is a common motive, other motives are different across rural and urban. Practical implications - The findings of the study are helpful for retailers and policymakers. Retailers can develop strategies to enhance mobile payment adoption through PEFC, HM and PTS by giving special attention to the rural community. The main motive possible to use in both rural and urban contexts is PEFC. Further, retailers should take the initiatives to uplift the technological know-how of their employees while inculcating supportive management orientation. Policymakers can use this study to develop policies to enhance the community’s familiarity with mobile payment technology and computer literacy. Originality/value - To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate motives for adopting mobile payments from both customers’ and retailers’ perspectives while being the first scrutiny to compare rural and urban scenarios. The use of mixed methods with concurrent research design also contributes to originality.