The Role of Social Influence as a Moderator in Evaluating Factors Affecting the Intention to Use Digital Wallets

Digital wallets (DWs) have experienced significant growth in recent years. Still, at the same time, there are substantial differences in the level of adoption of these financial technologies between EU Member States. This research investigates the key factors affecting the intention to use DWs by analyzing previous research and applying an extended Technology Acceptance Model. In total, 418 respondents from the Baltic states participated in the online survey in 2024. Using partial least squares–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), the analysis revealed that the factors studied, such as perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, social influence, facilitating conditions, and perceived trust, significantly influenced users’ intent to use DWs for financial services. Perceived trust emerged as the strongest predictor, and social influence moderated perceived ease of use and facilitated conditions that impacted users’ intent to adopt DWs. This study provides important insights into the factors that shape users’ intentions to use DWs and the interactions between these factors. In addition, the extension of the TAM strengthened the theoretical framework for the study of DW adoption.