Defence of business administration thesis
On Wednesday 16 October, Irina Dimitrova, working at CER, defended her thesis "The cashless paradox: Adoption and resistance". The work deals with different perspectives on the challenges and merits of digital payment methods.
The seminar, which was held in English, could be followed on site in Sundsvall or via link. The faculty opponent was Professor Carlos Flavian from the University of Zaragosa in Spain. The examining committee included Professors Robert Kozinets, University of Southern California in the USA, Niklas Arvidsson, KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Lena Boström, Mid Sweden University and Tobias Svanström, Umeå University. The main supervisor was Professor Peter Öhman and the assistant supervisor was Professor Darush Yazdanfar, both active at CER.
About the thesis
The digital development and the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated an already reduced need for cash. This is also the case in Sweden, which may be on its way to becoming the first cashless country in the world. The foundation for a cashless society is motivated by a number of advantages, but at the same time there are challenges. In other words, the situation reflects two sides of the same coin.
The overall aim of the thesis is to describe and analyze the relationship between barriers (challenges) and barrier breakers (benefits) and the intention to fully choose digital payment methods. An important aspect that the thesis also focuses on is intermediate aspects as these tend to influence how barriers and barrier breakers can increase or decrease the intent to use digital payment methods.
The dissertation consists of four articles, where Irina Dimitrova has used both quantitative (questionnaires and statistical analyses) and qualitative (netnography and interpretive analyses) methods. Two groups of bank customers are in focus: those who have adopted these payment methods and those who have accepted digital payment methods but at the same time express resistance to a cashless society.
The results show that the first group of bank customers perceive privacy and access barriers as significantly related to the intention to fully use digital payment methods, while the second group perceives the lack of in-person contact as a significant barrier.
Contact
