Influencing factors in the behavioral intention to use electronic payments: an analysis on users of the financial system

Abstract

Twelve years ago, Ecuador had a low level of banking penetration, the financial culture was ignored by a large part of the Ecuadorian population and they were highly dependent on cash; as a result, the banking system did not have enough capital available for new financial systems. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, this user behavior was forced to change. This article seeks to identify the most important factors that influence users of financial institutions with a minimum of experience in the use of electronic payment systems, with a focus on the population of the province of El Oro; it exposes the background, architecture and evaluation criteria of electronic payment systems (EPS), as well as the development of payment methods in Ecuador. The research model proposed by Daragmeh, adapted from the TAM model, which considers the determinants of perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use as constructs for measuring the level of acceptance of the technology and which directly and indirectly affect the behavioral behavior of users, was considered. For the analysis of the structural equations, the partial least squares method was chosen as a means of estimating the parameters and the different variables within the proposed model were evaluated simultaneously. The results obtained emphasize that perceived usefulness was the most important factor in determining the intention to use EPS; in addition, the restrictions of confinement and the risk of contagion perceived by users in the pandemic led most of them to adopt alternative payment systems to cash.