The Role of Perceived Trust and Social Influence in Digital Payment Adoption: Evidence from Rural Haryana

Abstract

India is leading the world in e-wallet adoption. While urban adoption has been impressive, there are significant sections of society that have not been penetrated by this innovation. Surprisingly, while urban adoption has been extensively studied and is well understood using established theories such as the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), there remains an empirical void regarding the theory’s applicability in agrarian states such as Haryana. The existing literature often overlooks the complex interplay between trust and social influence, moderated by important factors such as age. This study extends the UTAUT framework with Perceived Trust as a  context-specific construct. Data were collected from 220 respondents across select villages using a questionnaire and analyzed using Structured Equation Modeling with software applications named IBM SPSS and AMOS. The results indicate that Perceived Trust, Social Influence & Performance Expectancy significantly affect behavioral intention. According to a multigroup analysis, it was revealed that age is a strong moderator, social influence is a strong driver for young users, and it was found that perceived trust and effort expectancy were critical for older users. This information can help shape the policies of companies and policymakers who wish to close the urban-rural adoption gap and reduce reliance on cash in India’s economy.