Younger generations comprise an essential segment for the mobile payment market to prosper. However, empirical evidence of the drivers/barriers of the young generation’s adoption of mobile payment has been inconclusive. This study intends to advance the body of knowledge on this subject based on the extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), incorporating the young generation’s risk perception and bonus/rewards provided by the mobile-pay firms. To this end, 295 samples with the majority being more tech-savvy, namely generation Y and generation Z, were collected from an online survey in Taiwan. The empirical results in this study demonstrate the uniquely positive effect of social influence on the young generations’ behavioral intention to adopt mobile payment. While behavioral intention and promotional activities are the drivers of the young generation’s actual usage of mobile payment, perceived risks are found to exert a negative impact, reflecting the risk-averse preferences of the young generation in Taiwan. The ignorable moderation effect of gender, on the other hand, suggests the absence of a gender gap in the use of mobile payment among the young generations. The findings in this research have important implications for the development of promotion programs motivating the young generation’s adoption of mobile payment.

The determinants and/or economic effects of modern food distribution channels have attracted much attention in previous research. Studies on the welfare consequences of modern channel options, however, have been sparse. Based on a broader definition of modern food distribution channels including midstream processors and downstream retailers (supermarkets, hypermarkets, brand-named retailers), this study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by exploring the distributional implications of farm households’ choice of modern food distribution channels using a large and unique farm household dataset in Taiwan. Making use of the two-step control function approach, we identify the effect of modern food distribution options on farm households’ profitability. The results reveal selling farm produce to modern food distributors does not produce a positive differential compared to the traditional outlets. Another dimension of farm household welfare affected by the choice of modern food distribution channel is income inequality. We apply the Lerman and Yitzhaki decomposition approach to gain a better understanding of the effect of the marketing channel option on the overall distribution of farm household income. The Gini decomposition of different income sources indicates that the choice of modern food distribution channels results in an inequality-equalizing effect among the farm households in Taiwan, suggesting the inclusion of smallholder farmers in the modern food distribution channels improves the overall welfare of the rural society.

Purpose The Old Farmer Pension Program (OFPP) represents Taiwan’s long-standing efforts aiming at improving farm household income and well-being; however, how effective the pension program is in terms of achieving the policy agenda has remained unclear. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach Based on data drawn from the Survey of Family Income and Expenditure during 1999–2013, two identification strategies are used to examine the effect of OFPP. First the authors apply the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition to address the concern if the program reaches the socially/economically disadvantaged farm households. The second identification strategy involves using the static and dynamic decomposition approaches to identify the major factors contributing to farm household income inequality and the redistribution role of the OFPP. Findings Results from the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition indicate that about 60 percent of the income gap can be eliminated if the pension recipients’ socio-economic characteristics are the same as the non-recipient group, suggesting it is the disadvantaged group that receives the old farmer pension. Moreover, the results suggest the significant contributions of household investments in health and human capital as well as diversification toward nonfarm activities, to income inequality among Taiwan’s farm households. Results from the dynamic decomposition suggest that the first-wave adjustment of the OFPP enlarges farm household income inequality, the following two waves of adjustment, however, plays an equalizing role. Originality/value This study adds to the literature by providing a methodological refinement promoting the view that it calls for the use of the dynamic (change) decomposition framework to investigate the inequality-enlarging or inequality-equalizing role each income determinant plays.