ElectronicCommerceResearchandApplications14(2015)265–284ContentslistsavailableatScienceDirectElectronicCommerceResearchandApplicationsjournalhomepage:www.elsevier.com/locate/ecraAcriticalreviewofmobilepaymentresearch
TomiDahlbergb,JieGuoa,b,JanOndrusc,?aSchoolofFinanceandEconomics,Xi’anJiaotongUniversity,74,Yantaxilu,Xi’an,710061,China?boAkademiUniversity(IAMSR),Joukahaisenkatu3,20500Turku,FinlandcESSECBusinessSchool,Av.BernardHirsch,95021Cergy-Pontoise,Francebarticleinfoabstract
Thisarticleaimsatassessingtheprogressofmobilepaymentresearchoverthelast8years.Apreviousliteraturereview(Dahlbergetal.2008b),coveringarticlespublishedbetween1999and2006,showedthatthemajorityofresearchhadonlyfocusedonafewtopics.Inordertoaddressthisissue,aresearchagendawasformulatedtoencourageresearcherstoexplorenewtopics.Almostadecadelater,ourreviewrevealsthatresearchershavecontinuedtofocusonthesametopics(especiallyconsumeradoptionandtechnologyaspects)withalimitedaccumulationofnewknowledgeandsimilar?ndings.Inadditiontoreviewingtheliterature,wediscussthepossiblereasonsforthelackofresearchdiversityandproposenewrecommendationstoenhancefuturemobilepaymentresearch.ó2015ElsevierB.V.Allrightsreserved.Articlehistory:Received16July2015Receivedinrevisedform17July2015Accepted17July2015Availableonline26July2015Keywords:MobilepaymentsLiteraturereview1.IntroductionMobilepaymentresearchstartedsoonafterthe?rstpaymenttransactionwasconductedwithamobiledevicein1997.InFinland,CocaColaexperimentedwithvendingmachinesthatacceptedSMSpayments.Afteradecadeofresearch,aliteraturereviewwrittenbyDahlbergetal.(2008b)waspublishedintheElectronicCommerceResearchandApplicationsjournal.Thereviewre?ectedtheauthors’cumulativeunderstandingofmobilepay-ments,whichtheyhadindependentlyinvestigatedinseveralcoun-triesandcontinentsforseveralyears.Afterproducingafairpartoftheliteratureonthistopicthemselves,theauthorsfeltthattherewasaneedtoprovideguidanceforfutureresearch.Theirmainmotivationwasthatmobilepaymentissueswerenotfullyexploredbytheacademiccommunity.Infact,aconsiderablenumberofthepublicationsfocusedmainlyontwoissues:technologyandconsumeradoption.Interestingly,atthetime,fewconsumerswereabletoexperiencemobilepayments.Andagreatnumberofmobilepaymentinitia-tivesfailedbeforetheyevenreachedtheirintendedend-users.Duetothecomplexityofthephenomenon,itwasclearthattheinvestigationofconsumeradoptioninisolationwouldonlyprovidealimitedunderstandingofmobilepayments.Intheirarticle,Dahlbergetal.(2008b,p.165)alsoproposedade?nitionformobilepaymentstoclarifytheconcept,whichhadbeensubjecttodifferentinterpretations.Mobilepaymentswere?Correspondingauthor.Tel.:+33134433673.E-mailaddresses:tomi.dahlberg@abo.?(T.Dahlberg),jie.guo@abo.?(J.Guo),ondrus@essec.edu(J.Ondrus).http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.2015.07.0061567-4223/ó2015ElsevierB.V.Allrightsreserved.de?nedas‘‘paymentsforgoods,services,andbillswithamobiledevicebytakingadvantageofwirelessandothercommunicationtechnologies’’.Furthermore,theystatedthat‘‘amobilepaymentiscarriedoutwithamobilepaymentinstrumentsuchamobilecreditcardoramobilewallet’’.Mobilepaymentswerethusdistin-guishedfromanyspeci?ctypeofelectronicormobilemoney,theuseofmobiledevicestoaccesselectronicpaymentservices,andelectronicbanking(unlesstherewasaseparatemobilepayment‘‘instrument’’,oranaccountreservedformobilepayments).Withthisde?nitioninmind,Dahlbergetal.(2008b)alsocraftedamulti-dimensionalframeworktodescribemobilepaymentmar-kets(andtheliterature).Theirframeworkconsistedmainlyoftwoparts:i)themobilepaymentservicemarketbasedonPorter’sFive-Forcesmodel,andii)thecontingentfactorsimpactingmarketsbasedongeneralcontingencytheory.Today,theaccumulationofarticlesonmobilepaymentspub-lishedafter2006motivatesanewcriticalreviewoftheliterature.Weperformedasystematicliteraturesearchandidenti?ed188articlespublishedduringthelasteightyears(2007–2014),ofwhich87wereinmajorconferencesorinjournalswithanimpactfactorgreaterthan1.0.Aftercarefullyreadingtherecentarticles,wefoundthatresearchershaveoftenbeen‘‘re-inventingthewheel’’.Severalstudiesshowedby2006that‘‘security’’and‘‘trust’’areimportantpre-requisitesfortheadoptionanduseofmobilepayments.Inmorerecentliterature,thesame?ndingswereputforwardasprin-cipaltheoreticalcontributions,whichawardedpublicationinrespectableoutlets.Weadmitthatcon?rmingearlier?ndingscouldbesometimesjusti?ed.Yet,thispracticeledustowonderwhypastresearch?ndingswereignored.266T.Dahlbergetal./ElectronicCommerceResearchandApplications14(2015)265–284Dahlbergetal.(2008b)outlined22researchproposalsforfutureresearch.Interestingly,theirwell-citedarticlehashadlim-itedimpactonthekindofresearchthathasbeenconductedafteritspublication.Overly-researchedtopicshavecontinuedtoattractresearchers.In2008,Dahlbergetal.(2008b)alreadyconsideredthatthereislittleneedforadditionalstudiesonconsumeradop-tionofmobilepayments(i.e.,withTAMandUTAUTmodels),espe-ciallysinceweknew–andstillknow–solittleaboutmerchantadoption.Yet,consumeradoption(basedonthementionedmod-els)hasremainedoneofthemostinvestigatedresearchtopics,providingfewnewinsights.Butwhyistheresomucheagernesstoconductconsumeradop-tionstudiesformobilepayments?Wespeculatethatempiricaldatafromconsumersontheirattitudeandintentionscouldbeeasierandmoreconvenienttocollect.Anotherreasonmaybethatjournalsarestillkeentoacceptsuchstudies,eventhoughtherel-evanceandthecontributionsareclearlylimited.Ifthesereasonscanbecon?rmed,wearecurioustoknowwhatsignalsthisprac-ticesendstotheindustryandtheacademiccommunities.Overall,wefearthatthelimitedprogressmadeovertheyearshascreatedagapbetweenpracticeandacademia.Thepurposeofthisarticleistocriticallyanalyzemobilepay-mentresearchcarriedoutafterthepublicationofthepreviouslit-eraturereview(Dahlbergetal.2008b).Weaimatcomparingthevolume,researchmethods,researchthemes,andotherstatisticsaboutmobilepaymentresearchbetweenthetwoperiods(1998–2006versus2007–2014).Wealsoexaminewhichrecommenda-tionsofthepreviousliteraturereviewhaveimpactedmobilepay-mentresearch.Inordertoimprovefuturemobilepaymentresearch,wealsoprovideanupdatedlistofrecommendations.Asawhole,ourarticleaimsatansweringthefollowingtworesearchquestions:??Whyhaveweseenlimitedprogressinseveralmobilepaymentresearchthemesduringthelasteightyears???Whatshouldresearchersdoinordertoimprovetheirresearchonmobilepayments?Toaddressthe?rstresearchquestion,wepresentinSection2themethodologyoftheliteraturereviewandcomparethestatis-ticsbetweenthetwoperiodsstudied.InSection3,wereviewandcommentontheprogressofthethreedominantthemesofmobilepaymentresearch:strategyandecosystems,technology,andadoption.InSection4,weprovidecriticalcommentsandrec-ommendationsforfutureresearch.WeconcludeinSection5.2.LiteraturereviewsthatwereconductedSinceDahlbergetal.(2008b),severalliteraturereviewsaboutmobilepaymentshavebeenwritten.In2013,Sladeetal.(2013)exclusivelyreviewedmobilepaymentadoptionpapers.Morerecently,DennehyandSammon(2015)reviewedthe20mobilepaymentarticlesmostcitedinGoogleScholar.Moreover,deAlbuquerqueetal.(2014)performedanexhaustivereviewbyincludingarticlesaddressingmobilepaymentissuesindevelopingcountries.Webelievethatmixingarticlesfocusingondevelopinganddevelopedmarketscouldcauseconfusionabouttheprogressofmobilepaymentresearch.Infact,mobilepaymentservicesfromdevelopingmarketsareunlikelytopenetratedevelopedeconomieswiththeiradvanced?nancialmarketsandsophisticatedtelecom,merchantandconsumerinfrastructures.Consequently,weprefertoavoidtheinclusionofbothtypeofmarketsintoourreviewandsolelyfocusondevelopedeconomies.Whilethethreeabove-mentionedreviewshavetheirownmer-its,thereisstillaneedtoperformaninclusiveliteraturereviewandproviderecommendationsforfutureresearchondevelopedcountries.ToensureconsistencywiththepreviousliteraturereviewofDahlbergetal.(2008b),weusedthesamemethodtosearchandclassifyarticles.Thisapproachfacilitatesreliablestatisticalcom-parisonsbetweenthetwoperiods.Unlessindicatedotherwise,weusethesameframeworkandde?nitionsofconceptsasthosepresentedin(Dahlbergetal.(2008b)).Beyondprovidingconsis-tencybetweenthetwoliteraturereviews,wealsodemonstratethattheframeworkandconceptsarestillvalidtoclassifyliteratureandtostructureresearchonmobilepayments.TheframeworkshowninFig.1consistsoftwoparts.Theinnerpartrepresents(theactorsandforces)ofamobilepaymentservicemarketwithconceptstakenfromPorter’sFive-Forcesmodel.Theouterpartdescribescontingentfactorsimpactingthemarketwithconceptsderivedfromthecontingencytheory.Asaresult,theframeworkdescribesboththeactorsandfactorsofamarket,aswellasthecompetitiveforcesandenvironment.Mobilepaymentserviceprovidershaveakeyroleintheecosys-tem.However,theactionsofothermarketactors(regulators,?nan-cialinstitutions,devicemanufacturers,merchants)aswellasthein?uenceofmarketfactors(availablenetwork,banking,merchantandconsumertechnology,legislation,paymentinstrumentusehabits)couldimpacttheserviceprovidersandothermarketactors.Therefore,thisframeworkenablestostudyhowdifferentstrategicoptionscouldin?uencethecompetitivepositionofanactorortheperformanceoftheentiremarket.Contingentfactorsimpactinsys-tematicwaystheactorsandthemarketitselfbutareoutsidethedirectin?uenceandcontrolofanymarketactor.Contingencytheoryisessentialtocapturedifferencesbetweenmobilepaymentservicemarkets(especiallydifferentcountries).Inrecentstudies,theseissueshavemainlybeenembeddedintostrategyandecosystemstudies.Wewillusethetermecosysteminthenextsectionsasasynonymto‘‘m-paymentmarket&providers’’.Formoredetailsandexplanationsabouttheframeworkused,weinvitethereaderstoreferto(Dahlbergetal.(2008b)).2.1.LiteraturesearchWereviewedtheliteraturewithasystematicscanofonlineacademicjournalandconferencedatabases,similarlytoDahlbergetal.(2008b).Table1depictsthedatabasesthatwereusedforthetworeviews.NotethatwewerenotabletousetheM-Litdatabase,asithasbeendiscontinuedforseveralyearsnow.Tosearchtheliterature,weusedthefollowingdescriptors:‘‘mobilepayment(s)’’,‘‘m-payment(s)’’,‘‘proximitypayment(s)’’,‘‘contactlesspayment(s)’’,and‘‘NFCpayment(s)’’,andsearchedthemfromthetitlesandabstractsofthearticles.Weexcludedarti-cleswheremobilepaymentswerejustaminorsectionofthearti-cleon,forexample,mobilecommerceorelectronicpayments.Moreover,fromthearticlesidenti?ed,wewentbackwardsbyreviewingotherworkoftheauthorsaswellascitationsinthearti-cles(WebsterandWatson2002).SimilarlytoDahlbergetal.(2008b),weincludedarticlesfromafewestablishedconferencesinthe?eldsofIS,electroniccommerceandmobilebusinesstoincludeconferencearticleswithsuf?cientquality.Again,thisselectionwasdonetoensureconsistencybetweenthestatisticsofthetworeviews.Table2listsconferencesincludedinthetworeviews.TheMobilityRoundtableConferencemergedin2010withtheInternationalConferenceonMobileBusiness(ICMB).After2006,wedidnotcomeacrossanyproceedings.2.2.DescriptivestatisticsOursystematicliteraturesearchidenti?ed188articlespublishedduringthelast8years(2007–2014),ofwhich87wereinmajorT.Dahlbergetal./ElectronicCommerceResearchandApplications14(2015)265–284267Fig.1.Frameworkusedtoclassifythemobilepaymentliterature.Table1
Sourcesusedtosearchliteratureinthetworeviews(onlineacademicpublicationdatabases).SourcesProQuestDirectEBSCOScienceDirectIEEEXploreACMDigitalLibraryAISeLibraryGoogleScholarM-litScopusWebofKnowledgeEmeraldFulltextWileyInterScienceDahlbergetal.Dahlbergetal.Dahlbergetal.(2008b)XXXXXXXXCurrentXXXXXXXXXXXconferencesorinjournalswithanimpactfactorsuperiorto1.0.Weclassi?edthearticlesforthedescriptivestatisticalanalysisasfol-lows.Tworesearchersindependentlyreviewedthetitle,abstractanddiscussionorconclusionssectionsofeacharticleanddeter-minedthecategoriesofthearticleaccordingtothe9categoriesofTable2
Sourcesusedtosearchliteratureinthetworeviews(conferenceproceedings).SourcesICISHICSSAMCISECISPACISACISBLEDICECICEBIEEEProceedingsIADISE-CommerceIADISWWW/InternetMobilityRoundtableDahlbergetal.(2008b)XXXXXXXXXXXXXCurrentXXXXXXXXXXXXtheframeworkofDahlbergetal.(2008b).Inthecaseofdifferingresultsbetweenthetworesearchers,athirdresearcherrepeatedtheclassi?cation.Thedominantcategoryforthearticlewasthenselected.Ifanarticleinvestigatedmobilepaymentsbyinvolvingtwodif-ferentcategories(e.g.,Zhangaetal.2011,AlshareandMousa2014),weincludedthatarticleinbothcategories.Weaddedanewcategoryforthem,whichwelabeledmultiplecategorystudies,similarlytoDahlbergetal.(2008b).Afewarticlesaddressedsev-eralcategories,noneoftheminadetailedwayand/orwithaclearfocus.ThearticlesofGhezzietal.(2010),KshetriandAcharya(2012),andToandLai(2014)presentedmarketoverviewsbydescribingthestatusofmobilepaymentserviceswiththeirchal-lengesandpotential.Weclassi?edthemas‘‘overviews’’,followingDahlbergetal.(2008b).Thesetwoadditionsincreasedthe?nalnumberofcategoriesto11inbothliteraturereviews(seeFig.2).Please,notethattheliteraturereviewofDahlbergetal.(2008b),similartootherliteraturereviews,isnotincludedinFig.2.Fig.2showsthatthreecategoriesdominatemobilepaymentresearchafter2007.‘‘Consumerstudies’’accountsfor34articles(including2multiplecategoryarticles),followedby25in‘‘technol-ogy’’,and20in‘‘m-paymentmarket&providers’’(=mobilepay-mentstrategyandecosystems).Theother8categorieshaveonly12articles(including2multiplecategoryarticles).Furthermore,threeofthembelongto‘‘overviews’’.Thisleaves7articlestotheremaining6categories.Despitethelargenumberofconsumeradoptionarticles,thereisnosinglemerchantadoptionstudyafter2007.Between1999and2014,thecumulativenumbersofarticles–54for‘‘consumer’’versus4‘‘merchant’’isevenmorestriking.Fig.2illustrateswellthatmostoftheresearchhasbeendoneonthreeaspectswithverylittleresearchontheothercategories.Intermsofoutlets(conferencesversusjournals),therearedif-ferencesbetweenthethreedominatingcategoriesregardingtheproportionsofjournalandconferencearticles.While80%oftech-nologyarticleshavebeenpublishedinjournalsafter2007,thepro-portionis60%forconsumerarticlesandonly30%form-paymentmarket&providerarticles(=mobilepaymentstrategyandecosys-tem).Therecentemergenceofmobilepayment‘‘strategyandecosystem’’studiescouldjustifythisdifference.Wethenlookedatthemethodologyofeacharticleandclassi-?edarticlesasempiricalstudiesorconceptualstudies(Fig.3).268T.Dahlbergetal./ElectronicCommerceResearchandApplications14(2015)265–284Fig.2.Categoriesofconferenceandjournalarticles.Whileconceptualarticlesdominatedtheearlyyears,theratioofempiricalversusconceptualhaschangedgraduallyovertheyears,and?nallyin2014,thecumulativenumberofempiricalarticlessurpassedthenumberofconceptualarticles.Inthenextsubsections,wediscusspapersfromourliteraturereviewinthedominantthreecategories.Whenrelevant,wealsoincludedmorerecentpapers(2015orforthcoming),especiallyinthe‘‘ecosystem’’subsection.Thetechnologysubsectiondiscussesall44articlespublishedafter2007,includingthe25articlesusedinthedescriptivestatisticssection.Moreover,inallsubsections,wediscussimportantarticlespublishedpre-2007,whenrequired.3.AnalysisoftheliteraturewithcriticalremarksBecauseoftheircleardominance,wedecidedtoconcentrateouranalysisonthearticlesinthethreemaincategories:mobilepaymentstrategyandecosystems,technology,andconsumeradop-tion.Aswepreviouslyexplained,only7articleshaveaddressedtheother6categoriesoftheframeworkafter2007.Theydonotconstituteasuf?cientbaseforreview.Fig.4illustratestheannualnumbersofpaperspublishedinthethreedominantcategories.Thegraphshowsthattheamountofconsumer(adoption)articlesincreasedin2013and2014,aswellasthatthenumberofecosystem(=m-paymentmarket&providers)articlesstartedtogrowin2011.3.1.MobilepaymentstrategyandecosystemsConsumeradoptionandtechnologyhavetraditionallyattractedalotofattentioninacademia.Yet,thesestudiesofferedlimitedcontributionstotheunderstandingofthecausesthathavehin-deredthedevelopmentsofmobilepaymentsovertheyears.Mostmobilepaymentinitiativeshavefailedbeforereachingconsumersandmerchants.Therecentemergenceofmulti-perspectiveandmulti-levelresearchonmobilepaymentplatformsattheecosystemlevelmayeventuallyaddresstheresearchgaps.Alreadyin2005,severalresearcherssuggestedthatmulti-perspectiveapproachesshouldbeused.Theirclaimwasthatafocusononesingleaspectatatimecouldonlyprovidelimitedexplanationsaboutthecomplexphenomenonofmobilepayments.EarlyworkfromOndrusetal.(2005)investigatedmobilepay-mentsbyusingwhattheycalledatechnologyenvironmentassess-mentframework.Itcombinesthreecomplementaryperspectives:themarket,theactors,andtheissues.Themarketperspectiveexaminesabilitytocreateandmaintainapro?tablerelationshipwithconsumersbyprovidingarelevantvaluepropositionthataddressesconsumers’needs.Theactorperspectiveinvestigatestherolesoftheactors,theecosystemstructure,theeconomicsandcompetitiveconditions.Theissuesperspectivedealswithdiffer-entuncertaintiesrelatedtothefutureofmobilepayments(e.g.,