Empowering mobile money users: The role of financial literacy and trust in Vietnam

Abstract

While other countries have implemented mobile money very early with promising results, Vietnam, a bank-based country, only started the pilot implementation in November 2021. By the end of the pilot period, the percentage of people with mobile money accounts still needs to reach expectations. In this respect, our study focuses on financial literacy and perceived trust by analyzing consumers' intention to use mobile money. The results of the analysis show that six factors affect the intention to use mobile money, including (1) Perceived Usefulness, (2) Perceived Ease of Use, (3) Perceived Risk, (4) Perceived Value, (5) Financial Literacy, and (6) Perceived Trust. Although perceived trust does not have the most decisive direct impact, it plays a mediating role in promoting the intention to use mobile money. Perceived Trust helps users significantly increase their perceived usefulness and intention to use. Perceived Trust also indirectly increases the Perceived Value in the intention to use mobile money. In addition, the newly constructed financial literacy factor also significantly impacts the intention to use mobile money. The research results help clarify the role and mechanism of perceived trust in the intention to use mobile money. At the same time, it helps managers consider increasing the capacity of mobile money through perceived trust and financial literacy in a country where the banking system has been relatively expanded.