Trust in Technology: An Exploration of Investor Confidence in Fintech Tools

Abstract

In the rapidly evolving financial landscape, trust has emerged as the pivotal factor shaping investor engagement with financial technologies (fintech). This qualitative exploratory study examines the impact of trust on investor confidence, adoption, and ongoing engagement with fintech tools for mutual fund decision-making.  Based on a comprehensive theoretical framework that includes the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), Institutional Trust Theory, and Human–Computer Trust Theory, the study investigates trust across cognitive, institutional, technological, and social dimensions. The study employed thematic analysis based on Braun and Clarke's (2006) six-phase framework to look at data from semi-structured interviews and focus groups with 50–60 mutual fund investors. 

The results show that perceived usefulness, ease of use, institutional credibility, system reliability, and peer influence are all important factors that affect how much investors trust something. Additionally, trust functions as a mediating construct, converting perceptions of technology and institutional assurance into behavioral intention and ongoing engagement. The research expands current technology adoption theories by framing trust as both a process and an outcome, illustrating its dynamic function in connecting cognition, emotion, and behavior.  In practical terms, it gives fintech developers, banks, and regulators strategic advice on how to make things more open, trustworthy, and confident in the digital world.  In the end, the research shows that trust is the most important factor in adopting fintech, and it will shape how people behave when they invest online.