The Drivers of the Behavioral Adoption Intention of BITCOIN Payment from the Perspective of Chinese Citizens

Abstract

The bitcoin payment innovation has gained wider interest around the world, but its adoption among the general population has been a challenge. Bitcoin as a peer-to-peer technology works with no central authority or banks, and the transaction management and issuing of bitcoin is carried out collectively by the network. One major debate on bitcoin development and diffusion is the critical matter of nongovernment intervention through adequate policy and regulatory framework and thus hinders people’s active participation (acceptance) in the bitcoin market. Consequently, this study is purposed to examine the role government policy and regulations (moderating impact) can have in driving the acceptance of bitcoin payment from the Chinese perspective. The UTAUT was used as the theoretical basis from which a model was developed for testing. The structural equation model (SEM) through the use of SmartPLS was employed to undertake the analysis. The results have demonstrated that government regulation moderates (significant) the influence of both performance expectancy and infrastructure support on the behavioral acceptance of bitcoin payment. However, government regulation contrary to expectations was not significant in moderating the influence of effort expectancy (EE) and security on the acceptance of bitcoin payments. Additionally, the study discovered that performance expectancy, security, EE, and infrastructure support were significant in encouraging bitcoin behavioral adoption. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings on the development and diffusion of bitcoin technology systems are dissected meticulously.