Implication of Cashless Payment Operation System among SMES in the Services Sector

A heavily cash-based ecosystem impedes the growth of business and bustling of economy. Studies show that the cashless payment system is critical in advancing the business ecosystem of SMEs. The adoption of cashless payment system among SMEs in Malaysia is still lagging behind as compared to other developing countries. Hence, this research aims to investigate the factors that influence the adoption of cashless payment system among SMEs in the services sector. A thorough literature has been reviewed to identify the factors and based on it a model that influences the adoption of cashless payment system among Malaysian SMEs has been constructed. A sample of 105 SMEs in Melaka was used in this research. A structured questionnaire that employed a 7-point Likert scale was used for data collection. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in analyzing the data. The results of the research indicated that the perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and perceived risk were significant factors in the adoption of the cashless payment system among the SMEs in the services sector. Results of the study further showed that perceived ease of use was the salient factor of the SMEs to apply the cashless payment system. This research suggests that cashless payment system is central in sustaining the growth of SMEs and the Malaysian SMEs must be seriously encouraged to adopt the cashless payment system.