Adoption of Mobile Wallet During Covid-19 Outbreak: The Consumer Perspective

Government authorities have encouraged the public to use the contactless payment method in accordance with the new norm practised during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Malaysians will receive RM50 in mobile wallet credit as part of a Penjana Economic Recovery Plan initiative in July 2020 to encourage safe and contact-free payment. Hence, this paper aimed to study the factors influencing consumer adoption of mobile wallets during the COVID-19 outbreak. The independent variables included in this study are perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived social influence and perceived security. A total of 250 Malaysians from three states of Malaysia are given a set of self-administered questionnaires to be answered. The response rate is 94%, with 235 sets of completed questionnaires used for analysis. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM 3.3.3) is used to analyse the model. The hypothesis testing results concluded that perceived usefulness, social influence and perceived security have a significant relationship with mobile wallet adoption during the COVID-19 outbreak. Nonetheless, this research is useful for mobile wallet developers and other researchers. Lastly, the findings of this study provide some managerial implications for mobile wallet developers, which can help developers produce a better mobile wallet in the marketplace.