Covid-19 Effect on Consumers Perception toward E-Payment: A Case Study on Kuwaiti Consumers

Abstract

As an act of risk management, most governments around the world started imposing curfews and lockdowns to contain the spread of covid-19. These restrictions led e-payment to become the main method of conducting financial transactions. It is well documented that the volume of e-payments transactions had risen dramatically during and after covid-19 lockdowns and Kuwait was no exception. This study aims to identify the sources of that increase in e-payment transactions. Using the data of a questionnaire that was distributed to 170 participants, results showed that covid-19 resulted in an increase of 136% in e-payment in Kuwait. Using ordinary least square regression (OLS) method, results revealed that the age of the consumer had a statistically significant direct effect on the increase in volume while the consumer income had a statistically significant inverse relation with the increase in e-payment transactions volume. On the other hand, factors such as consumer gender, education, and information technology (IT) literacy showed no statistically significant effect on the increase in e-payments volume.