Purpose Shifting to mobile-based banking transactions from physical banking transactions can be considered as a social distancing mechanism, which helps to prevent the spread of Covid-19 virus. As the spread of Covid-19 is expected to continue for long, the continued usage of mobile-based payment services as a strategy to maintain social distancing has to prevail. Hence, this study aims to propose an integrated framework of mobile payments adoption and its continuance intention by integrating health belief model (HBM) and expectation confirmation model (ECM) of information system continuance. Design/methodology/approach The subject of the study constitutes new adopters of mobile payments. A total of 654 respondents participated in the survey. The conceptual model was empirically validated using structural equation modeling and serial mediation analysis. Findings The study found that the HBM constructs, namely, perceived severity, perceived susceptibility and self-efficacy significantly influenced adoption/confirmation of mobile-based payment services. The continuance intention was significantly predicted by perceived usefulness and perceived satisfaction. Furthermore, the perceived health threat (comprising perceived severity and perceived susceptibility) indirectly affects continuance intention through confirmation, perceived usefulness and satisfaction. Practical implications There are short-term and long-term implications for the study. Short-term implications include triggering the HBM at policy levels, to adopt mobile payments/banking as a means of social distancing in the wake of the increasing threat of Covid-19 in India. Long-term implication for service providers is to convert adopters into loyal consumers by enhancing usefulness and satisfaction. Originality/value The study proposes a novel attempt to explain the adoption and continuance of mobile-based payment as a preventive health behavior to contain the spread of Covid-19 outbreak. The study proposes an integrated framework of HBM and ECM to explain pre-adoption and post-adoption behavior of consumers with respect to mobile-based payment services during Covid-19 context.

This article evaluates whether contextual triggers lead to entrepreneurial behaviour among microfinance clients in India. The study identifies entrepreneurial training and microcredit as the contextual triggers that can be effective in creating entrepreneurial intentions and behaviour, respectively. Acquired learning helps to develop capability in an individual to identify the business opportunities around him, which help in creating entrepreneurial intention that can promote action. Microenterprises among low-income clients are usually formed by the support mechanism of triggering events. Shapero’s entrepreneurial event (SEE) model is used to capture the effects of microenterprise trainings that create entrepreneurial learning, leading to entrepreneurial intention and behaviour. The study also extends to capture the effect of microcredit as a moderator in effecting entrepreneurial behaviour among microfinance clients. The study finds that learning outcomes are capable of generating entrepreneurial intentions in a microenterprise context through the construct of desirability. Further, access to microcredit results in entrepreneurial behaviour. The findings provide direction to the effectiveness of entrepreneurial learning derived from entrepreneurial training in creating entrepreneurial intention. It also reveals the significance of moderating role of microcredit that leads to entrepreneurship behaviour. Therefore, findings are useful for policymakers in promoting microenterprises among the microfinance clients to address the problem of poverty.

Shifting to mobile payments from offline payments can be considered as a social distancing measure in times of a pandemic. The COVID-19 outbreak is currently entering its ‘endemic’ stage; continued usage of mobile-based payment services is thereby warranted as a social distancing mechanism. This could be true in case of any other pandemic/endemic outbreaks like SARS/Nipah virus outbreaks. The current study examines how the ‘perceived’ health threat posed by COVID-19 and mobile payment service quality (MPSQ) influence consumers' perceived value toward continuous usage of mobile payment services (MPS) in India. In addition, the investigation considers other factors that prompt consumers to continue using the service. Customers, who used mobile payment applications for making cashless transactions during the pandemic, formed the subjects of the study. Data were collected from 720 mobile payment users. The research model integrates the concept of health threat in health belief model to means-end chain model to explain why a customer opts to choose m-payment at times of a pandemic, and what prompts him/her to continue with its usage. The model was empirically tested with structural equation modeling, along with mediation and moderation analysis. It was found that MPSQ, perceived susceptibility, and perceived severity of COVID-19 significantly enhanced consumers’ value perceptions regarding MPS, which leads to satisfaction and continuance intention of using the same. In addition, the study also found a significant positive moderating role of consumer involvement on the relationship between perceived health threat, perceived value, and MPSQ. The threat of COVID-19, being an endemic, or occurrence of similar pandemics persists, and adopting contactless transactions via MPS to comply with social distancing norms may improve customer value perceptions that could aid in the persistence of MPS usage. Also, derivation of value perceptions out of the service quality acts as a driver to continuous usage.

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