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Institutional and firm-level factors for mobile money adoption in emerging markets–A configurational analysis

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  • Kabengele, Christian
  • Hahn, Rüdiger

Abstract

Mobile money is a widespread innovation throughout emerging countries. Since neither country-level institutions nor firm-level factors alone offer satisfactory explanations for mobile money's success, we draw on institutional theory to uncover how firms interact with institutions in target markets and explain the adoption of mobile money services. We perform a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis on 110 mobile money services from 46 emerging countries revealing four recipes for widespread adoption. In configuration 1, providers with high market power reach high adoption–irrespective of enabling institutions–if institutional voids are large. However, configurations 2 and 3 suggest that in most cases either enabling regulation or sufficient mobile and educational infrastructure are key for successful adoption. In these three configurations, providers are part of multinational telecommunication firms operating in markets with financial market voids. Configuration 4 suggests that certain fintech firms reach high adoption rates in more developed financial services sectors because they offer a broad scope of services. We highlight the usefulness of a configurational lens for institutional theory to understand phenomena at the intersection of innovation, society, and business – especially in emerging markets with complex institutional settings.

Suggested Citation

  • Kabengele, Christian & Hahn, Rüdiger, 2021. "Institutional and firm-level factors for mobile money adoption in emerging markets–A configurational analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:171:y:2021:i:c:s0040162521003668
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120934
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    4. Naito, Hisahiro & Yamamoto, Shinnosuke, 2022. "Is better access to mobile networks associated with increased mobile money adoption? Evidence from the micro-data of six developing countries," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(6).
    5. Darehshiri, Mahsa & Ghaemi Asl, Mahdi & Babatunde Adekoya, Oluwasegun & Shahzad, Umer, 2022. "Cross-spectral coherence and dynamic connectedness among contactless digital payments and digital communities, enterprise collaboration, and virtual reality firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    6. Hisahiro Naito & Shinnosuke Yamamoto, 2022. "Is Better Access to Mobile Networks Associated with Increased Mobile Money Adoption? Evidence from the Micro-data of Six Developing Countries," Tsukuba Economics Working Papers 2022-001, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Tsukuba.
    7. Sinha, Neena & Paul, Justin & Singh, Nidhi, 2024. "Mobile payments for bottom of the pyramid: Towards a positive social change," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).

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