An examination of determinants for e-wallet adoption in Malaysia: a combined approach

Background: In this era of innovation in information technology, everything is embedded with technology, and the financial sector is no exception. The term “FinTech” (Financial Services Technology Consortium) attracted the attention of regulators, consumers and investors in 2014. It was initially applied to the back-end systems of financial and banking institutions. However, Fintech has now become more consumer-oriented, as the combination of financial services and information technology. Specifically, it refers to financial services for consumers through technology. The e-wallet is one of the examples of FinTech in payments and infrastructure that can be freely adopted by everyone. However, the penetration of e-wallet usage in Malaysia is still in its early stages compared to other countries. Methods: The aim of this research is to examine the factors that affect the adoption of e-wallets in Malaysia based on five aspects: perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived risk, social influence and government support. These variables were adopted from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). Questionnaires were given to a targeted group of 100 e-wallet users in Malaysia using the convenient sampling method. The contribution of each factor in explaining the adoption of e-wallets was analyzed using multiple regression. Results: The results show that social influence has a significant relationship with the adoption of e-wallets in Malaysia: the majority of the respondents are at their prime age and their behaviours tend to be influenced by the reference group. The results from this study may encourage more small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia to provide e-wallet payment options, transforming their conventional business into a digital business and spurring the growth of the  digital economy in Malaysia. Conclusions: High levels of adoption of e-wallets moves a country towards a cashless society, resulting in better economic growth and environment.