E-WALLET USAGE TO PAY ZAKAT DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC AMONG MALAYSIAN’S POLYTECHNIC LECTURERS

Abstract

The World Health Organization's (WHO) physical separation policy has advised consumers to participate in contactless activities, including financial transactions. As the COVID-19 pandemic worsen, governments worldwide are promoting contactless payments. They are worried that the COVID-19 virus might be transmitted through cash. This has encouraged the using of e-wallet. Unlike the previous studies, this study contributes to the literature by combining the expanded Technology of Acceptance Theory (TAM) and the Fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S) to identify the factors influencing the usage of e-wallets to pay zakat during the COVID-19 pandemic among the lecturers at Politeknik Sultan Idris Shah in Selangor, Malaysia. Data are collected by means of questionnaire and by using random sampling, the total number of respondents is 274. Data are analysed using PLS-SEM. Evidence suggests zakat institutional support, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use all influence e-wallet adoption for zakat payments. Intentions also play a role in the usage of e-wallet systems for zakat payments. Unfortunately, perceived risks and fear of COVID-19 do not trigger respondents to use e-wallet in zakat payment during the pandemic. This is due to the higher vaccination rate among Malaysian and mostly because the respondent is in the coping phase where they are trying to live with the fact that COVID-19 is everywhere. For this reason, zakat organisations must strengthen their marketing and promotional efforts. To make clients feel safe, zakat institutions must reduce risk factors, such as ensuring that e-wallet payments function seamlessly. To encourage future zakat payments, e-wallet platform’s provider must enhance their reputations, services, and advertising.