Asymmetric and symmetric approaches to the extension of UTAUT2 in the M-payment adoption of Pakistani apps

Advanced technologies pave the way for a variety of technology-based inventions, especially economic integrations. The idea of mobile commerce has been under consideration for the past decade. Mobile users are gradually shifting from traditional modes of payment to cashless mobile applications. After COVID-19, the use of e-modes for payments in our daily routine lives increased significantly, which requires further investigation of the factors affecting the adoption of mobile payment (M-payment) applications. Given that, this study aims to investigate the adoption of M-payment through the application of UTAUT-2 theory while extending it with monetary benefit. The data were collected from 302 respondents who were the current users of JazzCash and Easypaisa. Furthermore, this study furnishes a deeper understanding of the proposed model by utilizing the partial least squares–structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fsQCA approach. The findings of this research highlight that performance expectancy, price value, habit, and monetary benefit are the major and more effective motives that influence the adoption of M-payment in Pakistan. Further, the findings of this study provide an in-depth insight into consumer perspective about the major indicators that influence the adoption of M-payment and can also help practitioners deploy an appropriate strategy for their M-payment application. This study is the pioneer in evaluating the adoption of M-payment in the developing economy of Pakistan through UTAUT-2 theory with additional variable of monetary benefit offered by JazzCash and Easypaisa in terms of cashback, discounts, and perks that drive the adoption intention for M-payment. More importantly, this study also extends the prior studies by utilizing the asymmetrical approach with symmetrical findings to explore the causal configurations (i.e., the combination of UTAUT2 antecedents) predicting the adoption of M-payment.