Understanding Adoption of Mobile Wallets : On Aged Population

Abstract: A mobile wallet is a mobile application that is intended to replace leather wallets. With high mobile and Internet penetration and increased life expectancy in developed economies, adoption of mobile wallets by the older population is becoming more important due to new trends. Therefore, this thesis aims to understand and increase adoption of mobile wallets in developed economies by the citizens between the ages of 50 to 75. Based on the mobile payment technology acceptance model (MPTAM) and an extensive literature review, a simplified model is suggested. Three sub-questions (on 1 - social influence, 2 - perceived security, trust and risks, and 3 – perceived ease of use) are proposed for further study, which has been suggested in the literature to have more importance for the targeted demography. An exploratory qualitative study based on in-depth semi-structured interviews was conducted. The findings show that social influence can have direct or indirect effects. Moreover, several factors were identified that seems to have impacts on the degree to which a content can influence people. In addition, perceived trust, security, and risks seem to be the most important impediment for the adoption of mobile wallets, especially for risk-averse people. Furthermore, perceived ease of use can improve the values that mobile wallets may provide. Perceived ease of use is more important for the targeted age group since some of the potential users in this age group has reduced learning and physical abilities. Finally, many implications of the findings and methods to improve the adoption of mobile wallets for the selected demography, i.e. restriction and customization, use of familiar design, use of strong brands, etc. are suggested.