What Drives Chinese Consumers’ Behavior in Switching between Cash and Proximity Mobile Payment? A Perspective of the PPM Framework

The emergence of proximity mobile payment technology is beginning to replace the circulation of cash, checks, and credit cards. Nevertheless, few studies have explored why consumers switch between cash and proximity mobile payment. In applying the push-pull-mooring framework, this study investigates consumers’ switching intention between cash and proximity mobile payment by exploring the enablers (push factors and pull factors) and inhibitors (mooring factors). The results showed that push factors, mainly dissatisfaction with cash payment, drive consumers away from using cash. Meanwhile, the pull factors, including utilitarian value and hedonic value, attract consumers to use proximity mobile payment. Mooring effects, in terms of inertia and security concerns, negatively affect consumers’ switching intention. However, this study found that nowadays, the social value is less likely to be the primary reason that attracts consumers to use mobile payment. Such understanding fills the gaps in the current literature under the mobile payment context. Prior studies have mainly paid attention to the adoption phase and the continuous usage phase but have neglected mobile payment switching. This study also assists mobile payment service providers in understanding consumers’ switching behaviors and implementing appropriate strategies for different user groups.