Decoding Brand Trust: Perspectives from Non-adopters, Users, and Discontinuers of Mobile Money Services
(A2024-118518)

AUTHORS

Pilar Carbonell, York University; Ana Rodriguez-Escudero, University of Valladolid

ABSTRACT

Mobile money (MM) has been touted as an effective solution to increase financial inclusion around the world and thus it is not surprising that uptake of this technology has significantly increased in recent years, specially in countries where large parts of the population remain unbanked or underbanked. However, despite the progress made, more needs to be done to promote acceptance and use of this technology given the high number of people around the world who have not yet adopted it or rarely use it. Against this backdrop, this study examines the role of brand trust in fostering acceptance and use of MM in the context of an emerging economy. Drawing on brand research, we develop a model that combines information availability, information quality, social influence, customer service and security risk to explain brand trust and, in turn, behavioral intention and test this model with three groups of consumers namely, non-adopters, users and discontinuers of MM services. Results show that brand trust is an important predictor of consumers’ intention to adopt, continue using and restart use of MM services. Also, important differences were found among the key drivers of brand trust among non-adopters, users and discontinuers of MM services.