Merchants’ Adoption of Mobile Payment: An Exploratory Study in Macau

Abstract

Nowadays, mobile phone usage is ubiquitous. Mobile payment (m-payment) is widely adopted by individual customers especially Mainland Chinese consumers. In Macau, it is still a relatively new technology. There are still a number of merchants that have not yet adopted this payment method. The main purposes of this thesis study are to find out the perception of local merchants towards m-payment and to get an insight of the factors that can influence their adoption of this payment method. This study also seeks to find out the difficulties and problems the merchants faced using m-payment. In order to have a deeper understanding of the merchants’ thoughts, this study adopted a qualitative approach of face-to-face interviews with 24 local SME merchants. This study has identified government policy, perceived size of user base, commission charged, network issue, perceived ease of use, perceived benefit, top management support, and relationship or “Guanxi” are eight main influential factors that influence merchants’ adoption of m-payment in the Macau market. Government and mpayment solution suppliers should continuously encourage merchants to adopt this payment methods. Local merchants should seize the opportunity to adopt new technology and provide better service and shopping experience to the customers.