The diffusion of m-payment in Micro-trading Activities in retail markets in Nairobi Central business district

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate key factors affecting mobile payment diffusion in micro-trading activities in retail markets in Nairobi Central Business District (CBD). The study seeks to offer imperative information for policy making, product development for the mobile payment providers as well as give insight into the entrepreneurial impact of mobile payment in micro-trading. This study reviewed literature to establish the place of m-payment in micro-trading. It hypothesized both drivers and barriers to m-payment adoption in the micro-trading environment. Under drivers, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and trust are evaluated. Whereas under barriers perceived security and privacy risks, cost and support from the m-payment service providers are investigated. Random sampling was used to select respondents at the Nairobi City Market. A survey questionnaire was used as the primary instrument for data collection. The research procedure included a pre-testing of the questionnaire using 10 respondents; while the final research data collected had 75 respondents. The data collected was then cleaned, sorted analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 17) and presented in tables, charts and graphs. This study confirms that m-payment is a critical component of day-today micro-trading, almost all the traders at the market have registered for one or more of the m-payment products, with close to half using it on a daily basis. The study also indicated that perceived usefulness, ease of use and trust were key drivers in the diffusion of m-payment in micro-trading activities at the Nairobi City Market. Of the three barriers tested: security and privacy risk cost and support; the service support was found to have negative impact the diffusion of m-payment. Most traders do not consider cost when choosing an m-payment service; this is because the service comes as a value added service to the mobile phone service they are already using.