The Influence of Prior Privacy Invasion Experiences on FinTech Payment Service Users’ Compliance Intentions for Personal Information Protection: A Protection Motivation Theory Perspective

With the growing adoption of electronic financial payment services across both wired and wireless environments, the importance of managing personal information in FinTech has become increasingly critical. Incidents such as hacking and phishing within the FinTech ecosystem have caused significant harm to users, making personal information protection a paramount concern. This study presents a research framework based on Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) to analyze the psychological responses of FinTech payment services users. Specifically, it examines the impact how prior experiences of privacy invasion influence users’ emotional concerns (i.e., threat appraisals), perceived security (i.e., coping appraisals), and compliance intentions regarding personal information protection. Data were collected through an online survey of FinTech users with relevant experience. The empirical results show that privacy invasion experiences increase emotional concerns and reduce perceived security, although they do not affect FinTech-related knowledge. Additionally, while FinTech knowledge does not influence emotional concerns, it has a positive effect on perceived security and compliance intentions. Perceived security was found to alleviate emotional concerns and enhance compliance intentions. These findings provide valuable insights for FinTech services providers seeking to strengthen user behavior concerning personal information protection.