Fostering Financial Inclusion in a Developing Country

Abstract

Financial inclusion is a vital development priority for countries worldwide. Mobile wallet (m-wallet) is considered as a disruptive payment method that will substitute the traditional physical wallet to achieve the so-called cashless society and enables financial inclusion. This study aims at developing and testing a research model that integrates a set of technology factors (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, fun to use, monetary value), external factors (peer influence and perceived status benefit), and cultural factors (humane orientation and societal collectivism) to assess the intention to adopt and use m-wallet, for financial inclusion, in a developing country. The proposed conceptual model is tested using data collected from 621 m-wallet users in Cameroon. The model explains 47.5% of the variance of the actual use of m-wallet and 32.90% of the variance of financial inclusion. Eight out of the 10 proposed hypotheses were supported. Finally, implications for research and practice are discussed.

Mobile wallets in cash-based economies during COVID-19

“…Mobile broadband connections (3G & 4G) account for about 23%. About 99% of all mobile connections are pre-paid, and only 1% are post-paid (Fosso Wamba et al. , 2021).…”

“…, 2021). In terms of mobile connectivity, the overall index score of the country (on a scale of 1–100) stood at 42.76, 25.69 for the mobile network infrastructure, 58.64 for the affordability of devices and services, 54.90 for consumer readiness, and 40.42 for the availability of relevant content and services (Fosso Wamba et al. , 2021).…”

“…The growing presence of mobile wallets services in an environment with recognized culture (Yakomba and Twinomurinzi, 2021) like Cameroon requires investigation. However, few related research has been conducted in this area (Tsanga, 2018;Fosso Wamba and Queiroz, 2020;Fosso Wamba et al, 2021). Still, none has investigated the factors that influence the adoption of mobile wallets in a cash-based economy like Cameroon.…”

Two decades of mobile payment research: A systematic review using the TCCM approach

“…Lee et al (2019) used TAM to investigate the reciprocal link between user and retailer perceptions of platform‐based mobile payment services. Wamba et al (2021) applied TAM to understand user acceptance of mobile wallets in Cameroon. Singh and Sinha (2020) and Shaw (2014) used TAM theory to test the mediation effect of perceived trust in understanding retailer's intention to use a mobile wallet.…”

Exploring investors' willingness to use robo-advisors: mediating role of emotional response

“…The upsurge of financial technology (fintech) has resulted in many platforms offering novel financial services (Haddad and Hornuf, 2019), such as mobile payment for money transfers (Chang et al ., 2021b; Shankar, 2022; Wamba et al ., 2021), robo-advisors for investment management (Anshari et al ., 2022) and peer-to-peer lending for financing (Chen et al ., 2021). The growing number of fintech platforms has witnessed the increasing failure rates of fintech service providers (Muthukannan et al ., 2020); many of them are struggling to attract new customers and retain existing customers.…”