Thesis defense in Business Administration: Irina Dimitrova
Today, Irina Dimitrova, PhD student at CER, successfully defended her thesis "The cashless paradox: Adoption and resistance". The work deals with different perspectives on challenges and merits due to 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 grading committee included Professor Robert Kozinets, University of Southern California in the USA, Professor Niklas Arvidsson, KTH in Stockholm, Professor Lena Boström, Mid Sweden University and Professor Tobias Svanström, Umeå University. The main supervisor was Professor Peter Öhman and the assistant supervisor was Professor Darush Yazdanfar, both working at CER.
About the Thesis
Digitalization and the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated an already declining need for cash, including in Sweden, which is on track to potentially become the world's first cashless country. While a cashless society is supported by several benefits, it also presents challenges, reflecting 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) in relation to the intention to fully adopt digital payment methods. An important aspect the thesis also explores is the intermediary factors that tend to influence how these barriers and benefits increase or decrease the intention to use digital payment methods.
The thesis consists of four articles, where Irina Dimitrova has applied both quantitative (surveys and statistical analyses) and qualitative (netnography and interpretive analyses) methods. The study focuses on two groups of bank customers: those who have adopted digital payment methods and those who have accepted them but simultaneously express resistance to a cashless society.
The results show that the first group of bank customers perceives privacy and accessibility barriers as significantly related to their intention to fully embrace digital payment methods. In contrast, the second group identifies the lack of personal contact as a major barrier.
Link to the Thesis "The cashless paradox: Adoption and resistance"
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