An Empirical Study on Acceptance of E-wallet among Malaysian University Students

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many consumers have resorted to contactless payment via e-wallet. This study aims to look into the acceptance of e-wallet applications among Malaysian university students. It investigates the relationship between lifestyle compatibility, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and trust and security in terms of their intention to use an e-wallet as a form of payment. Data was collected from 217 respondents in Malaysia using purposive sampling through an online survey. Modified Partial Least Square (PLS) version 3.3.5 was used to test all hypotheses. Trust and security are not the primary driver of e-wallet adoption among Malaysian university students, as most consumers are still hesitant to use mobile payments due to concerns about security. Nonetheless, it is discovered that the other parameters studied, which are lifestyle compatibility, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, have a positive influence on Malaysian university students’ willingness to use e-wallets. This study gives e-wallet developers useful insights into how to improve their e-wallet application by taking into account the factors deemed important by users, especially since it was conducted during the pandemic when consumers preferred contactless payments.