Assessing the Digital Payment Adoption Trends among College Students through an Extended TAM Model

Abstract

This study examined the trends with respect to digital payment adoption of college students using an adapted TAM. In particular, this study concentrated on college students in the Delhi NCR region examining the impact of three primary independent variables, Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) and Trust & Security (T&S) on Behavioral Intention (BI) with respect to Attitude toward usage, an intervening variable. This study used a quantitative descriptive exploratory research design using a structured questionnaire with 200 college and university students who were selected using stratified random sampling. The researchers then used SPSS and MS Excel to analyze the data using descriptive and inferential statistics which included regression and ANOVAs. The results showed PEOU had the largest positive and statistically significant influence on BI indicating that the students' interactions with digital payment systems, and how easy students can use digital payment systems, plays a primary role (central position) for the student's behavior of accepting those digital payment systems. This research considering an university student population that is digital natives in a global contemporary society which has improved the explanatory power of TAM by acknowledging the students' relative experience.