Abstract

     Mobile financial services (MFS) have been a powerful innovation to provide cost-effective services and wide coverage to the unbanked population of the world. The topic has gained considerable attention from researchers but lacks a clear guideline or directions for future prospects. Therefore, this article presents a systematic literature review on MFS adoption. Using the Web of Science database, the paper reviewed 118 articles and revealed significant models, conceptual frameworks, antecedents and variables that explain consumers’ adoption of MFS. The paper also outlines highly cited authors, studies and journals utilizing international platforms such as Google Scholar, ResearchGate and SCImago Journal Ranking. The findings of the systematic literature review indicate the technology acceptance model (TAM) followed by the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) as the leading conceptual framework, and MFS adoption antecedents can be organized into six different categories, viz. Cognitive determinants, affective determinants, social-based determinants, trust-based determinants, barrier-based determinants and consumer-based determinants. The paper concluded with an agenda for future studies with corresponding gaps in the literature.

Introduction

     The eighth goal of sustainable development goals (SDGs) aims to strengthen financial institutions and ensure universal access to financial services by the year 2030. In this regard, mobile financial services have become an influential instrument in stimulating financial inclusion in developing countries. These services have created a dynamic platform by extending the reach and access to financial services to those who have insufficient resources and restricted access to conventional banking (Sihvonen, 2006). As reported by Global System for Mobile communications Association (GSMA), nearly 2.5 billion people in developing countries are unbanked and rely on cash or informal sources for their financial requirements (Plenderleith, 2018). Besides, around one billion of these population have access to mobile phones, which can serve as the foundation to provide various financial services such as balance inquiry, money transfer, payments, investment, insurance and credit facility. Indeed, many major banks have leveraged mobile devices as a principal medium for customers to access their accounts. They have created mobile apps and websites to provide their customers with an appropriate blend of comfort, convenience and user experience (Chawla and Joshi, 2017). Given the magnitude of competition, service providers are inclined to adopt online channels in an attempt to overcome the restriction related to human service encounters (Alalwan, Dwivedi, Rana and Simintiras, 2016a). In particular, the internet and the high penetration of smartphones, on the one hand, have prompted banks, software companies and microfinance institutions to provide these innovative services to extend their client reach and, on the other hand, enabled individuals to perform their financial activities cost-effectively regardless of time and place constraints.

CONCLUSION

     The area of mobile financial services is gaining worldwide attention, witnessing an increasing number of scientific and nonscientific articles. Although, the literature on MFS adoption has been reviewed in the past but existing reviews did not focused on every form of mobile financial services, that is, mobile banking, mobile payment and mobile money. Accordingly, this study highlights the scholarly contribution by synthesizing extant literature on MFS adoption. To do so, we have conducted a systematic literature review on 118 articles published in Web of Science database

     It was observed that the research pertaining to mobile financial services has started appearing in journals from the year 2007 and the count has been gradually increasing ever since. Besides, the publication outlets, the most commonly used theories and frameworks, countries, statistical tools applied in the articles were listed to outline the context and characteristics of MFS adoption studies. Further, a comprehensive list of antecedents, moderators, mediators and consequences employed by researchers to examine MFS adoption is provided. With respect to the antecedents, the literature brings out a myriad of factors that have been used frequently in the studies. To facilitate the interpretation, the antecedents have been classified into six different categories: Cognitive determinants, affective determinants, social-based determinants, trust-based determinants, barrierbased determinants and consumer-based determinants.