The Use Of M-Payment Services In South Africa: A Value Based Perceptions Approach

Business is transforming at an exponential rate and mobile technology is considered to be a key driver in this economic revolution. Despite the efforts of many businesses in making extensive investments in resources to enhance service experience, long-term post-adoption of mobile payment services by consumers still remains an elusive dream. In particular, researches that align South African customers value perceptions of M-payment usage are scarce. It appears then, that if service providers cannot retain users and facilitate continuance usage along M-payment platforms; they might fail to recover the initial development costs and eradicate the valuable gains derived from turning the M-payment story into a winning success. Therefore, since M-payment post-adoption has not been as rapid or widespread as expected, this study aimed to examine consumers perceptions of M-payment value and the corresponding influence on e-service trust, user satisfaction and continuance intention to use M-Payment platforms. The study followed a quantitative survey approach in which data were collected from a sample of 269 M-payment users in South Africa. Structural Equation Modelling software Smart PLS was applied to ascertain the model fit. The results of this study found strong support for positive and significant relationships between value, trust, satisfaction and continuance intentions. Service providers are challenged to utilise value and trust-formation elements as the central differentiation factors which unsurprisingly impact on satisfaction evaluations and ultimately, the users willingness to continue enjoying the M-payment service experience into the future. Thus, the confluence between financial institutions, mobile network operators as well as businesses is compelled to give prominence toward creating holistic value-based user experiences along the mobile platform.