How Inclusive Digital Financial Services Impact User Behavior: A Case of Proximity Mobile Payment in Korea

Users’ payment behaviors have changed. The diffusion of mobile devices makes people suitable for proximity mobile payment (PMP) services without traditional payment. Existing mobile payment literature mainly focuses on the adoption and continuous usage behavior. Nevertheless, switching behavior on payment has received little attention, especially on why people switch from traditional payment to PMP. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate factors influencing users’ traditional payment–PMP switching to comprehend how these factors shape switching intention. To that end, we developed a traditional payment–PMP transition model based on the push–pull–mooring framework derived from migration theory. This study conducted a structural equation modeling analysis on 311 valid data. The findings indicated that a push factor drives users away from traditional payment in terms of dissatisfaction. The pull factors, including perceived substitutability and perceived usefulness, attract users to PMP. Furthermore, a positive mooring factor facilitates users’ switching intention to PMP in terms of perceived technical compatibility. The negative mooring factor, in terms of perceived risk, hinders users’ switching intention. However, another pull factor—perceived ease of use—failed to influence switching intention significantly. This study found some distinctions between mobile payment switching and mobile payment adoption. These findings provide pivotal insights for mobile payment service providers.