Digital Payment Systems in Retail Sector: Empirical Exploration of Determining Factors of Actual Use

With the advancement in financial technologies, many digital payment systems have been developed and integrated into e-commerce activities. Their effective adoption by the intended users is the concept of interest to stakeholders. The purpose of this study was to empirically investigate the determining factors of actual use of digital payment systems in the retail sector. This study used primary data collected from digital payment system users in South Africa. A sample size of 417 respondents was used. Guided by the developed hypothesis, structural equation modelling was used in the analysis. The findings indicated that digital payment system use was significantly and positively affected by perceived trust and security, convenience, effort expectancy, and perceived benefits. Social influence was found to have an insignificant effect. Additionally, perceived trust and security significantly mediated the effect of social influence and effort expectancy on actual use of digital payment systems in the retail sector. Perceived benefit mediated the effect of social influence, convenience, and effort expectancy on actual use of digital payment systems in the retail sector. The study highlighted important managerial implications for stakeholders in the retail sector. These include enhancing trust and security of the digital payment systems, marketing the benefits of the payment gateways, and continuous improvement of their technical procedures.