Behavioral intention to adopt FinTech services: An extension of unified theory of acceptance and use of technology

Abstract

FinTech service companies in Saudi Arabia face several challenges (i.e., lack of awareness, competition, regulations, data privacy, and cyber security concerns) in motivating their customers to adopt FinTech services in their daily financial activities. Thus, the present study aimed to investigate and understand the consumers’ behavioral intention toward FinTech services in Saudi Arabia. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology was applied and extended by adding privacy enablers and privacy inhibitors. Partial least square structural equation modeling was applied to test the hypotheses in the present study. Based on 361 FinTech users from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, who participated in the present study, the results indicated that performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating condition, and privacy enablers significantly and positively impact users’ behavioral intention towards FinTech services. The results also revealed the insignificant impacts of social influencers and privacy inhibitors on users’ behavioral intention towards FinTech services. Overall, the findings suggested that FinTech service companies and practitioners should account for the privacy enablers on the broader level and to adopt a governance approach in developing reliable FinTech applications based on the information richness that can assist in developing trust amongst consumers. The present study contributes by extending the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology by adding privacy enablers and privacy inhibitors in the model to understand the consumers’ behavioral intention toward FinTech services in advancing the horizon of the extant literature.