USER PREFERENCES IN FINTECH APPLICATIONS: GARRETT RANKING ANALYSIS IN A DEVELOPING ECONOMY CONTEXT

Abstract This study investigates user preferences and challenges while using Fintech applications within a developing economy context using Garrett's ranking methodology. This study surveyed 194 well-educated respondents with a view to understanding desirable features as well as issues encountered during Fintech usage. Application of Garrett’s methodology resulted in counter-intuitive findings such as multilingual interfaces ranking as the most desired feature, ahead of preferences such as easy refunds and additional authentication. On the issues front too, usability ranked highest among reported problems. These findings are contrary to expectations based on the sample's educational background and digital usage characteristics. This study uses Garrett's ranking technique to convert ordinal data into normalized scores, providing a novel methodological approach yielding contrarian findings within Fintech user research. These findings could have significant implications for Fintech application design in developing economies and raise questions about the relationship between educational language policies and technology preferences, which could be an area for further research.