Abstract
This study explores consumers' perceptions of different payment methods (mobile, traditional and cryptocurrency) for hotels and tourism in an international destination, based on the technology acceptance model (TAM). Taking a quantitative research approach, data collected from China and Korea were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results show that Chinese and Korean consumers’ perceived usefulness, ease of use, and security differ with different payment methods. The findings also reveal different underlying mechanisms that determine Chinese and Korean consumers' intention to visit a destination based on their choice of payment method. This study provides a theoretical basis for future research on crypto-payments and offers pragmatic recommendations for professionals in the hospitality and travel industry in light of the attitudes and intentions of the two countries towards the three payment methods.
Introduction
In modern society, the way consumers make payments is no longer limited to traditional methods (cash and credit cards), and has become more diverse (Oliveira et al., 2016, Johnson et al., 2018). The hospitality and tourism industries are no exception in adopting a variety of payment methods. More consumers who visit hotels pay their deposits through credit cards than in cash as there is a risk of losing cash, which makes most people prefer credit cards (Miao and Jayakar, 2016). In addition, credit card companies (e.g., Visa and MasterCard issuers) have specifically launched business travel cards to increase credit card usage by advertising to consumers that using credit cards at hotels will offer corresponding benefits (Singh and Sinha, 2020). Furthermore, along with the rapid development of technology, mobile payment methods have been launched that use the trading platform software on mobile devices to make payments, which have received much attention from tourists. The swift transactions and the convenience of not having to carry cash or credit cards have made the mobile payment method popular (Cabanillas et al., 2014). In addition, a report prior to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic showed that the majority of millennials (57%) choose to use online travel agents to make reservations for their travels, while approximately 30% of them also use online websites to book hotels and flight tickets (Condor, 2021). To increase platform usage, service providers offer various marketing campaigns, such as a 5% discount on the price for using a specific payment platform, or a free travel service, or additional services when using a credit card from a specific issuer. Consumers can thus use various payment methods to purchase products and services via the service provider platform (Inversini and Masiero, 2014, Law et al., 2009, Morosan, 2012, Nuryyev et al., 2021, Wang and Qualls, 2007).
Following the creation of the first Bitcoin block in 2009, other cryptocurrencies (including Ethereum, Litecoin and Tether) began to be developed in 2011. This payment method is becoming more pervasive in businesses as 15,000 companies worldwide have now accepted cryptocurrency payments and 32,330 cryptocurrency ATMs are located in 77 countries (Coinatmradar.com, 2021). Cryptocurrency payment adoption is also expanding since major global businesses (e.g. Pavilion Hotels & Resorts, AXA Insurance, Microsoft, Starbucks, Tesla, Amazon, Visa, PayPal, airBaltic, Sotheby's, Coca Cola, LOT Polish Airlines, Expedia, Lush) agreed to use Bitcoin for transactions (Euronews, 2021). In the hotel and tourism industry, Travala.com, as the only platform that is currently able to book 2.2 million hotels and travel products using cryptocurrency payments, listed the well-known travel product booking platform Expedia (Euronews, 2021). In addition, according to Statista.com (2022), 64% and 44% of consumers are interested in using cryptocurrency payments for travel products and hotel bookings, respectively. This statistic shows that the acceptance of cryptocurrencies in tourism and hospitality industry will bring huge advantages, and indicates that the acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a payment method is becoming a growing trend in many business sectors, helping industries to promote their products and services to consumers (Roussou and Stiakakis, 2016; Fotiadis and Stylos, 2017; Nuryyev et al., 2020).
Previous studies have explored consumers' perceptions of mobile payment (e.g., Cobanoglu et al., 2015; Kang and Namkung, 2019, Liébana-Cabanillas et al., 2018; Lou et al., 2017; Ozturk et al., 2016; Sun et al., 2021), and a study by Wu et al. (2021) suggested that the use of mobile payment methods has become a habit in China, which makes the frequency of use extremely high. However, the traditional market, using traditional payment methods, such as cash, still has a larger market share in Korea than mobile payments. In addition, the credit card market offers many benefits to consumers (e.g., cash back for specific spending amounts; discounts for visiting hotels, theme parks, restaurants, and cafes that partner with card issuers; and increased discounts based on spending amounts) (Radic et al., 2022). Although the Chinese government has recently banned and deemed cryptocurrency trading an illegal activity (Reuters, 2021), findings by Nadeem et al. (2021) and Radic et al. (2022) indicate that there is a strong intention among Chinese respondents to use cryptocurrencies for payments. Coupled with this, interest in the adoption of cryptocurrencies in business has recently developed, but only a few studies have explored consumer adoption of cryptocurrency payments based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Lou and Li, 2017, Nuryyev et al., 2020). Therefore, it is valuable to analyze attitudes and behavioral intentions related to mobile payment, traditional payment (cash/credit card), and cryptocurrency payment simultaneously, using Korea and China as research contexts.
To fill the research gaps, this study aimed to (1) simultaneously investigate the relationships between consumers’ perceptions of the three payment methods, using the notions of the TAM; (2) examine the effect of antecedents (perceived security, ease of use, and usefulness) on outcome variables (trust, attitude, and behavioral intention); and (3) explore the cultural impact on the relationships between the study variables in Chinese and South Korean consumers. To address the research questions, this study targets Chinese and South Koreans, and uses a survey method, taking a quantitative approach. The data collected through specialized research agencies of both countries are analyzed using SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 26.0 statistical analysis programs.
The results of this study will contribute to understanding how consumers’ behavioral intentions toward a destination are formulated for a tourism destination. Determining whether the psychological models differ with cultural background will offer pragmatic implications for the cryptocurrency payment era. Most of the prior research related to blockchain and cryptocurrency payments was conducted in 2016–2020. Based on the fact that cryptocurrencies became known to most people in late 2020–2021, we would hazard a guess that the results of the current study may differ from the earlier studies. Compared to past studies in the period before cryptocurrencies became popular, this study will provide research results that are closest to the current facts and thus suggest a more applicable response for the travel and hospitality industry.
Section snippets
Payment methods in the hospitality and tourism industry: Mobile, traditional, and cryptocurrency payments
As mobile payment enables consumers to pay via their mobile devices, it has gradually been adopted by consumers, retailers and companies (Tan and Ooi, 2018). By reducing the likelihood of losing cash or debit/credit cards and decreasing the time spent on transactions, this payment method provides an efficient service through a platform on mobile devices (Ozturk et al., 2017, Law et al., 2018, Khanra et al., 2021). Mobile payment generally requires the use of third-party payment platforms such
Measurement items
Measurement items for the construction of this study were extracted from previous research (Chawla and Joshi, 2019, Davis, 1989, Davis, 1993, Peng et al., 2012, Fu et al., 2018, Liu and Ye, 2021, Nuryyev et al., 2020, Nuryyev et al., 2021, Pal et al., 2021, Shin and Bianco, 2020, Singh et al., 2020). The research model is composed of six constructs including perceived security, ease of use, usefulness, trust, attitude, and intention to visit a destination. Table 2, Table 3 show the measurement
Data quality testing by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA)
The correlations among the study variables are presented in Table 2. The results of CFA for the payment methods show that all three models of the construct structure had acceptable goodness-of-fit statistics for both the Chinese and Korean groups. In addition, composite reliability (CR) was examined, which showed acceptable values between.756 and.947, indicating adequate internal consistency of the measured items for each construct (Hair et al., 2021). The average variance extracted (AVE)
Discussion
This study simultaneously examined Chinese and Korean consumers’ perceptions and behavioral intentions relating to three different payment methods (mobile, traditional, and cryptocurrency). While this study considered two nations, China and Korea, where mobile and traditional payment methods are widely adopted, we also took the newly developed cryptocurrency payment system into account, which is beginning to be adopted across the world. The survey data yielded several notable findings.
First,
Conclusion
This research examines both hotel and travel consumers' perceptions and reactions to different payment methods (mobile, traditional and cryptocurrency) by using the TAM, comparing Chinese and Korean consumers' perspectives. We find that both Chinese and Korean consumers focus on the security and ease of use aspects for mobile payment. The functional performance of traditional payments and ease of use (speed of transactions) of payments have a significant effect on consumers' trust levels in
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