Barriers to bank customers’ intention to fully adopt digital payment methods

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to empirically investigate the relationship between a set of functional and social–psychological barriers and bank customers’ intention to fully adopt digital payment methods (DPMs). Design/methodology/approach: The data were collected via an online questionnaire sent to two samples of Swedish bank customers, namely, adopters-accepters (i.e. young bank customers) and adopters-resisters (i.e. a group opposing a cashless society). Hypotheses were tested by applying an ordinal regression model. Findings: Regarding the adopters-accepters, privacy and access barriers can be obstacles to the full adoption of DPMs. The adopters-resisters perceived all five studied barriers as significant, though only the impersonalisation barrier seemed to matter when the barriers were related to their intention to fully adopt DPMs. Moreover, the results suggest that barriers have a stronger negative effect on the intention to fully adopt among those with extensive experience of DPMs. Practical implications: Based on the barriers affecting the intention of particular groups of bank customers to adopt DPMs, banks could implement customised measures to promote the ongoing development of digital financial services. Originality/value: In this under-researched area, this study provides empirical knowledge of the influence of various barriers on the intention of bank customers characterised as adopters-accepters and adopters-resisters to fully adopt DPMs.