Assessing the diffusion and use of mobile payment solutions: A case of South African townships

Abstract

Mobile payment solutions are generally not widely adopted by township residents in South Africa. Thus, this paper reports on the results of a study conducted to investigate and assess the factors that inhibit or promote the adoption, diffusion and use of mobile payments by township residents. The study was conducted in the Soshanguve Township on the outskirts of Pretoria in the Gauteng province, South Africa. The study adopted a mixed method approach for data collection and data analysis. The preliminary results of the study revealed that the adoption, diffusion and use of mobile payments in the townships is affected by a number of critical elements including opportunities to trial the mobile payment solution at no cost and ease of use supporting existing users' devices. The main contribution of this paper is therefore a proposal of critical guidelines that could aid the diffusion and use of mobile payment solutions in the townships. It should be noted that data collection for this study was only limited to one township and further research in other townships is required in order to generalise the results and guidelines.