How digital payment factors drive sustainable industry metrics: interactions among payment convenience, smart behavior and trust in finance and accounting systems

Purpose Existing digital payment research has predominantly focused on technology adoption and transactional efficiency, offering limited insight into how digital payment capabilities contribute to sustainability-oriented finance and accounting systems. This study develops and tests an integrated behavioral–technological framework linking Payment Convenience and Competence (PCC), Smart Payment Behavior (SPB), Digital Payment Trust and Usage (DPTU) and Sustainable Industry Metrics (SIM). Design/methodology/approach The study employs a theory-driven covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) approach using survey data from a cross-industry sample of 781 respondents in Kosovo collected during 2024–2025. The analysis incorporates exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, convergent and discriminant validity assessment, bootstrapped mediation testing with 5,000 resamples and alternative model comparisons to evaluate structural robustness and explanatory capacity. Findings The results indicate that PCC is positively associated with SPB, while SPB is positively associated with DPTU. SPB further serves as a mediating mechanism in the relationship between PCC and DPTU, highlighting the importance of adaptive payment behavior within digitally enabled financial environments. In addition, PCC, SPB and DPTU exhibit significant positive relationships with SIM, suggesting that digital payment capabilities, trust-based digital usage and adaptive payment practices are associated with sustainability-oriented finance and accounting outcomes as operationalized through the SIM construct. The proposed model demonstrates substantial explanatory capacity for SIM and provides a better fit than the alternative structural models examined in this study. Originality/value The study advances digital payment and sustainable finance research by introducing and validating Sustainable Industry Metrics (SIM) as a multidimensional construct reflecting sustainability-oriented characteristics of finance and accounting systems, including operational efficiency, transparency, traceability, monitoring capability, and resource-efficient finance and accounting practices. It further develops and empirically validates an integrated behavioral–technological framework linking payment capabilities, adaptive payment behavior, and digital trust with sustainability-oriented finance and accounting outcomes.