Time for a different perspective: A preliminary investigation of barriers to merchants' adoption of mobile payments

The mobile phone has become an essential tool for completing purchases both online and offline. Although mobile payments (m-payments) are still in a developmental and early adoption stage, their mobility and accessibility make them likely to be one of the future's most successful mobile services. Existing research has focused on consumer adoption, ignoring calls for merchant-centric research. Therefore, this paper presents a preliminary study on the adoption of m-payments from the merchants' perspective. The results of the research revealed that merchants' have an overarching affinity for financial institutions providing m-payment services and that lack of knowledge and lack of critical mass are the dominant barriers of merchants' adoption of m-payment systems. Based on the results several recommendations for practitioners are offered and a number of lines for further research are identified.