Consumer Adoption of Mobile Payments †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Consumer Adoption of Mobile Payments. Answer: Introduction: Cashless payment through mobile does not mean a complete ending of physical mode of payment. However, it rather means a reduction in the physical mode of payment. Singapore is a highly active country when it comes to technology and innovation; however, it has somehow not shown the thirst which was required for considering the adoption of mobile payment[1]. On the other hand, China is a leading country in terms of using the cashless payment[2]. Interestingly, other developing nations such as Nigeria have shown their interest in the cashless payment[3]. The main purpose of this assignment is to analyze the opportunities and the challenges, which are there in the cashless payment system. The literature review tries to show the prospect of cashless payment in Singapore. There are some reasons, which have discouraged the country from going cashless. Some of the reasons that might be the causes behind a slow approach towards a cashless payment are as follows[4]: Limited trust on the electronic devices that facilitates cashless payment Absence of a regulatory framework, which could enhance the payment security and could innovate various things to make it more secured user-friendly Absence of systems that are partially interoperable One of the causes that have thus far prevented Singapore from going cashless is the fear to use the service[5]. Customers have fear in them about the payment security. They rely much on the traditional format of payment such as by credit card. The reason is very well supported in a chosen article "Dynamics between the trust transfer process and intention to use mobile payment services: A cross-environment perspective." The article has found two variables such as initial trust and perception of risk in customers, which influence their behavior towards the mobile payment. If they have initially developed trust for the cashless system, they will think of taking the advantages of the cashless system. Additionally, if they have sensed risk in the cashless method they will certainly keep themselves away from the system[6]. The facts that are preventing Singapore from going cashless can also be understood from the example of Nigeria, which is a cash-based economy. The country has prospects for the cashless system, which is also evident in the recent steps of the Central Bank of Nigeria. The Central Bank of Nigeria has implemented the cashless system as they have realized the urgency to balance the rising demand. However, it is still challenging in the country because of following reasons[7]: Lack of acquaintance with the benefits of cashless payment system Associated risks[8] Insufficient trained personnel in major organizations Tendency to be reliant with the existing system People may have resistive nature in them to the new payment method The similar facts can also be supported from the example of cashless system in India. The government has shown their utter interest towards a cashless economy; however, challenges are many too. The country has a very large population of it living in villages in the different states. They have their tendency to remain addicted with the traditional system of cash payment, which according to them is more secured. They have their perception to be resistive towards any innovative system. The fear to move into a new system of any domain has created enough doubts for the success of cashless system in the country[9]. Influencing factors for the adoption of cashless payments- The biggest influencing factor for a cashless payment in Singapore can be its prospects, which it has already delivered to other countries such as China[10]. In China, customers have shown their utter trust on the cashless system. It has been observed from the success of mobile payment in China that the platform should offer something different to what has already been offered by other modes of payment like credit card. Customers will not like going through the same interface as they get during the payment through credit or debit cards. They will rather want a different interface, which could excite their interest level. Indeed, the stakeholders are required to integrate with the existing value chain but need to offer a distinct platform[11]. It has further been observed that there is a need to build up an ecosystem where a co-operative operation will exist[12]. This can be understood from the example of Alipay in China, which has provided an environment where key organizations can come across and initiate the business of partnership to facilitate the success of cashless system in the country. The similar thing has happened in the country as there has been a phenomenal relationship in between the banks and the Alipay. Alipay is a renowned name in the country. It has a large base of followers in the country. It has already operated with a success in the e-payment mode. The status of such kind has helped Alipay to successfully migrate into the mobile payment. Nevertheless, the success has also conveyed a message that there can be the creation of a real trust for mobile payment if the country has online giant like Alipay[13]. It has also been believed that to have an effective development of the national economy, an efficient payment system is immensely required[14]. Payment system is like other infrastructure such as telecommunications, transportation infrastructure and electrical power. It needs to be taken under a continuous development program in order to give it the most secured way. Interestingly, some research works have shown that an increase of 10% in the local payment system contributes in an increment of 1% in the GDP per capita[15]. An efficient payment system will depend to a least degree on the cash system of transaction and henceforth will provide the following benefits[16]: This will increase the velocity of money, which is very important for promoting an economic growth This will reduce the volume of cash that have been kept outside the bank This will bring flexibility in the banking operation and will enable them to offer the most attractive rates to the deprived sectors of the economy This will also reduce the corruption This will also reduce the overall bank charges Benefits from Singapore going cashless The cashless system if it gets implemented in Singapore, this will benefit the country in many ways. This will not only benefit the common public but the public and the private companies will also get benefitted. Following are the list of bodies that will be benefitted from Singapore going cashless: The private and public companies will be free from manual works of reconciling the cash amounts. This is because there will be a reduced flow of cash amounts. The transaction will be significantly replaced by the cashless payment. Surprisingly, the local government has to spend a huge amount of money to secure the cash amounts[17]. In Ireland for example, it costs around 1.4% of the entire Gross National Product in protecting and administrating the cash and cheques both during and after the production[18]. In Singapore, it costs around s$1.50 for the processing of each cheque. Going cashless would simply reduce such expenditures. These are the few ways in which the private and the public companies in Singapore are going to be benefited from Singapore becoming a cashless nation[19]. The implementation of cashless payment in Singapore will provide relief to the legal proceedings. There is always a threat of cash money being looted during a trip to somewhere. This can even happen even under tight security[20]. The implementation of cashless payment will therefore mean a reduction in cash payments. This will further mean that more and more transaction will then be done electronically. Consequently, there will be a reduction in the crime rates. Henceforth, this will be a relieving move for the local police. They will then get reduced numbers of money theft cases. In 2014, a study was conducted in Missouri in the United States on the crime cases after the implementation of electronic transfer system. The study had then found a reduction of 10% in the burglary and assault cases[21]. In Singapore, there will be no such requirement for the hawkers, consumers and the businessman to carry loads of cash amounts. Therefore, the chances of robbery will be reduced. However, the electronic payment is also not entirely secured. There are scammers who do fraudulent activities to theft the money online. In such situations, cyber security measures will be required to impose to protect such fraudulent practices[22]. However, this is understandable that in such cases things will be much controlled because it will just require a cyber security system to be installed. Along with that, this will also require a continuous monitoring from the experts to check whether there is any hacking process on the system[23]. Electronic payments will provide an improved data on the public activities. This will help in identifying the commercial activity. This will also help in improving the urban planning for transportation, housing and energy management as it is confirmed by a research from MasterCard found[24]. Approximately 66% percent of the workers in Singapore receive their payment made through electronic modes. However, many foreign workers those who are working in the marine and the construction sectors still prefer to be paid in cash. If they also transferred to an electronic mode of payment, this will help the country get important data on those workers[25]. Learning from countries having successful take-up rates in cashless payments- China in particular has been benefitted by the mobile payment. The implementation of the mobile payment is because of their reform strategy, which they had earlier started in the year 1978. The mentioned reform strategy did encourage the country to switch over to an open economy. Such a move had flourished many much successes in the past. It continued to do the same. This time the country has shown potentials by going cashless. The climbing progress in technology such as the 3G the 4G network and the incrementing usage of mobile phones have collectively encouraged the initiation of mobile payment in China[26]. The payment system is very secured, fast and reliable. The majority of people who use internet in China prefer shopping through online platform. There are various online platforms in the country such as Alipay, Tenpay, Union Pay, YeePay, China PnR and others. Alipay in particular has further the success of mobile payment in the country. The system has provided a more secured p latform to the Chinese people. This is also believed that payment through mobile is never safe. In such situations, it is really difficult to trust on such platforms. However, Alipay provides the safest platform for online transactions. It does so through two kinds of services such as escrow that helps in absolute safety during the transaction and the flexible payment options that allow freedom to select the payment options. The technical advancement of Alipay has furthered the success of cashless payment in China[27]. Cashless payment system was implemented in developing countries like Nigeria. It was done to fulfill the vision, which states that Nigeria want to be within the top 20 countries by 2020. Consequently, it was believed that cashless system is necessary to be an efficient player of economy. However, the different stakeholders are confused. They are divided on the issues, which are probable with the cashless system. It is therefore necessary that the commercial banks and the other stakeholders take a collaborative step towards the cashless payment. However, they have indeed realized the importance of cashless system for the betterment of existing economy in the country. The thought process in the country might help it succeed in progressing with the cashless payment system[28]. Despite the challenges in the country, it is poised to get the benefits of cashless payment system. They have felt the necessity of cashless system in fulfilling the vision 2020. They have realized that in order t o be one of 20 top economic countries by 2020, it is imperative to adopt the cashless system. There are requirements to resolve the issues such as money laundering, inflation, tax evasion, efficiency in financial statement reporting and poor payment balance. Indeed, cashless system can effectively help in controlling the highlighted issues[29]. The above literature review can be summarized into few findings. It can be summarized into little strength such as the cashless payment system has the potentials to resolve critical issues like money laundering, tax evasion, inflation and inefficient handling of financial statement reporting. However, the expected benefits may cause some adverse reactions as well. The cashless payment system is also not very secured. Fraudsters can act smart and hack the system to get an access to the payment option. It is rather a challenging situation because there will be no clue of where the money has gone. Despite the challenges it has been viewed as a potential option to further the economy of the respective country. China has already been benefitted largely because of the internet use in the country and the success of Alipay. Further research may come from the following areas: Hacking cases during the cash transaction through online Rate of reduction in the identifies issues such as money laundering Change in economy after implementing the cashless payment system in Singapore Bibliography Achor, Princewell N., and Anuforo Robert. "Shifting policy paradigm from cash-based economy to cashless economy: The Nigeria experience."Afro-Asian Journal of Social Sciences4, no. 4 (2013). Aluko, Ayodeji, and Mahmood Bagheri. "The impact of money laundering on economic and financial stability and on political development in developing countries: The case of Nigeria."Journal of Money Laundering Control15, no. 4 (2012): 442-457. Emengini, Steve Emeka. "Cashless economy and financial statement reporting in Nigeria."European Journal of Accounting Auditing and Finance Research2, no. 3 (2014): 1-9. challenge.gov.sg. 2017.Challenge.Gov.Sg. https://www.challenge.gov.sg/print/cover-story/the-benefits-of-going-cashless. Chavan, Jayshree. "Internet banking-Benefits and challenges in an emerging economy."International Journal of Research in Business Management1, no. 1 (2013): 19-26. "Going Cashless In Singapore Challenging But Not Impossible". 2017.The New Paper. https://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore/going-cashless-singapore-challenging-not-impossible. Guo, Jie, Jie Guo, Harry Bouwman, and Harry Bouwman. "An ecosystem view on third party mobile payment providers: a case study of Alipay wallet."info18, no. 5 (2016): 56-78. Hedman, Jonas, and Stefan Henningsson. "The new normal: Market cooperation in the mobile payments ecosystem."Electronic Commerce Research and Applications14, no. 5 (2015): 305-318. Jumoke, Soyemi, Soyemi Babajide Olugbenga, and Hammed Mudasiru. "Nigeria Cashless Culture: The Open Issues."Int. j. eng. sci4, no. 4 (2015): 51-56. Kajdi, Lszl. "A Western Diet with Chinese SpicesThe Specificities of Payments in China."Financial and Economic Review16, no. Sepcial Issue (2017): 140-169. Kshetri, Nir. "Cybercrime and cyber-security issues associated with China: some economic and institutional considerations."Electronic Commerce Research13, no. 1 (2013): 41-69. Liu, Rongbing. "The Role of Alipay in China."Nijmegen. Radboud University(2015). Lu, Yaobin, Shuiqing Yang, Patrick YK Chau, and Yuzhi Cao. "Dynamics between the trust transfer process and intention to use mobile payment services: A cross-environment perspective."Information Management48, no. 8 (2011): 393-403. Nordio, Margherita. "Underground banking and money laundering: focus on China." (2016). Odior, Ernest Simeon, and Fadiya Bamidele Banuso. "Cashless banking in Nigeria: Challenges, benefits and policy implications."European Scientific Journal, ESJ8, no. 12 (2012). Oladejo, Morufu, and Taibat Akanbi. "Bankers perceptions of electronic banking in Nigeria: A review of post consolidation experience."Research Journal of Finance and Accounting3, no. 2 (2012): 1-11. Oliveira, Tiago, Manoj Thomas, Goncalo Baptista, and Filipe Campos. "Mobile payment: Understanding the determinants of customer adoption and intention to recommend the technology."Computers in Human Behavior61 (2016): 404-414. Prakasam, Silvester. "Evolution of E-payments in Public TransportSingapores Experience."JOURNEYS3 (2009): 53-61. Reaves, Bradley, Nolen Scaife, Adam M. Bates, Patrick Traynor, and Kevin RB Butler. "Mo (bile) Money, Mo (bile) Problems: Analysis of Branchless Banking Applications in the Developing World." InUSENIX Security Symposium, pp. 17-32. 2015. Richet, Jean-Loup. "Laundering Money Online: a review of cybercriminals methods."arXiv preprint arXiv:1310.2368(2013). Schneider, A., and C. M. Mertes. "Expansion and growth in Chinese cities, 19782010."Environmental Research Letters9, no. 2 (2014): 024008. The New Paper. (2017).Going cashless in Singapore challenging but not impossible. [online] Available at: https://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore/going-cashless-singapore-challenging-not-impossible [Accessed 6 Nov. 2017]. Warke, Prashant S., and Prajakta R. Patil. "An Empirical Study on Challenges Opportunities in Indian Economy towards Cashless Enigma."International Journal of Advanced Electronics and Communication Systems6, no. 6 (2017). Yang, Shuiqing, Yaobin Lu, Sumeet Gupta, Yuzhi Cao, and Rui Zhang. "Mobile payment services adoption across time: An empirical study of the effects of behavioral beliefs, social influences, and personal traits."Computers in Human Behavior28, no. 1 (2012): 129-142. Yaqub, J. O., H. T. Bello, I. A. Adenuga, and M. O. Ogundeji. "The cashless policy in Nigeria: prospects and challenges."International Journal of Humanities and Social Science3, no. 3 (2013): 200-212. Zhong, Junying, Amandeep Dhir, Marko Nieminen, Matti Hmlinen, and Juha Laine. "Exploring consumer adoption of mobile payments in China." InProceedings of International Conference on Making Sense of Converging Media, p. 318. ACM, 2013.