Yes / The rapid evolution of mobile-based technologies and applications has led to the development of several different forms of digital payment methods (DPMs) but with limited enthusiasm in consumers for adopting them. Hence, several academic studies have already been conducted to examine the role of various antecedents that determines consumers’ intention to adopt DPMs. The degree of effect and significance of several antecedents found to be inconsistent across different studies. This provided us a basis for undertaking a meta-analysis of existing research for estimating the cumulative effect of such antecedents. Therefore, this study aims to perform a meta-analysis of five antecedents (i.e. attitude, cost, mobility, price value and innovativeness) for confirming their overall influence on intentions to adopt DPMs. The results of this study suggest that the cumulative effect of four out of five antecedents found to be significant while influence of price value was found insignificant on behavioural intentions. The recommendations drawn from this research would help to decide if and when to use such antecedents for predicting consumer intention to adopt DPMs.

Digital money is growing more popular and physical money is not being used as much as it once was. But what happens if we have a cashless society and what would it mean? The purpose of this essay is to investigate if increased technological innovation lead to a decrease in the currency in circulation and if there is a short or long term effect of innovation on currency in circulation. To answer the questions a fixed effects regression model is applied, based on panel data for 4 countries Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland for the time period 2007-2020. The regression's findings provide credibility to the hypothesis that increasing innovation has had a negative effect on currency in circulations. With the help of a Vector Error Correction Model with time series data for Sweden from 2007 to 2020, the second part of the question is answered. The result find evidence that increased innovation has a long-run decreasing effect on currency in circulation.

Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) is a financial service whereby customers defer payment on a purchase against a short-term debt. While BNPL services have a long history, digital invoice services are now the largest market for BNPL. For the study, two of the largest providers in Sweden, and their checkout interfaces were reviewed for dark patterns. Dark patterns are instances where designers exploit the knowledge of human behaviour (e.g., behavioural psychology) and cognition (e.g., cognitive psychology) in order to coerce the customers into performing target actions. For digital invoice services, the target actions are for the customers to select the credit instalments which profits their business model, as a large percentage of their income are from postponed payments. This study employs three research methods to answer the research questions “What existing dark patterns are identified in digital invoice services, and what are the impacts of dark patterns in the context of digital invoice services?”. First, existing dark patterns were identified through a systematic literature review. Second, the resulting dark patterns were applied to an analysis of the two digital invoice services, where ten dark patterns were identified. Finally, an interface of a digital invoice service was designed, prototyped, and evaluated to test the impact of the identified dark patterns in the context of digital invoice services. Analysis suggests that the users are being coerced through design into the target actions, which were selecting the credit instalments (X2 = 5.84, df=1). The results is being further discussed in means of the potential debt users face from dark patterns in financial interfaces. / Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) är en finansiell tjänst där användarna skjuter upp betalningar mot en kortfristig skuld. BNPL-tjänster har en lång historia, men digitala faktureringstjänster är nu den största inom marknaden för BNPL. För studien granskades Sveriges två av de största faktureringstjänster och deras användargränssnitt för “Dark Patterns”. Dark Patterns är designmönster som utnyttjar kunskapen om mänskligt beteende (t.ex. beteendepsykologi) och kognition (t.ex. kognitiv psykologi) för att uppmana kunderna att utföra riktade åtgärder. För digitala faktureringstjänster är de riktade åtgärderna att användarna väljer kreditbetalningar vilket uppfyller deras affärsmodell, eftersom en av deras huvudsakliga inkomstkällor är från användare som skjuter upp sina betalningar. Denna studie använder tre forskningsmetoder för att svara på forskningsfrågan ”Vilka befintliga “Dark Patterns” kan identifieras i digitala faktureringstjänster, och vad är påverkan av “Dark Patterns” i samband med digitala faktureringstjänster?”. Först identifierades befintliga “Dark Patterns” genom en systematisk litteraturstudie. Sen tillämpades de identifierade “Dark Patterns” i en analys av digitala faktureringstjänster, där tio “Dark Patterns” identifierades. Slutligen skapades en prototyp vars gränssnitt utvärderas för att testa påverkan av de identifierade “Dark Patterns” i samband med digitala faktureringstjänster. Analys tyder på att användarna uppmanas genom design till riktade åtgärder för de digitala faktureringsstjänsterna som valde kreditbetalningarna (X2 = 5,84, df = 1).

In an era of increasing globalization and rapid technological evolution, SMEs are leveraging innovations to navigate complexities and seize opportunities in global markets. Various firms have adopted innovative technologies in their operations, with FinTech breakthroughs being a particularly interesting area for companies to explore. This qualitative study aims to provide a deeper understanding of how FinTech is reshaping pathways for SMEs to expand internationally beyond their domestic markets and seeks to explore the specific FinTech solutions facilitating this expansion. Utilizing a combination of methodological tools, including semi-structured interviews with key business players, real-life case studies, analysis of previous scientific research, and thematic exploration, the study employs an abductive research approach to gather comprehensive data and contribute significantly to the topic in question. The findings reveal that FinTech products and services significantly influence European SMEs, facilitating cross-border operations, improving access to foreign markets, and managing the risks of international business. Essential FinTech services identified include digital payments, online lending, cash flow management tools, and online billing and invoicing tools. The research also highlights that for certain underserved regions in Europe, FinTech solutions often represent the only viable option for international operations. Tech-driven SMEs and younger entrepreneurs are the most frequent consumers of FinTech technologies. While the future of FinTech is uncertain, its current importance in the SME landscape is clear, influencing both its continued relevance and potential for further evolution. Through this in-depth investigation, the thesis emphasizes FinTech’s transformative role in helping SMEs thrive in the international arena, making it a key aspect of the international business plans of SMEs.

Around the globe, countries move away from banknotes and coins in the favor of digitized payments. A number of findings from academic research conclude various benefits associated with decreased cash usage, such as enhanced economic development, less costs for governments and banks, financial transparency as well as lower economic-related crime rates. In a light of various benefits moving towards cashless payments, it is hypothesized that there also could be a relationship between how innovative a country is and how much cash circulates in economy. The relationship could be both-sided like less cash circulation can trigger innovation and, at the same time, adoption of cashless payments could be driven by how innovative a country is. To be able to investigate a potential correlation, a correlation analysis is conducted between the two variables: an innovation level of a country and cash circulation in econom. The Global Innovation Index score will be used to summarize various factors that provide an overview of national innovation performance, and percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be used for currency in circulation. According to the findings, the hypothesis that there is a correlation between cash circulation and innovation performance in a country could not be rejected with a 5% significance level. / Runt om i världen öppnar länder upp för att gå från kontanta betalningsmedel mot digitala betallösningar. Enligt tidigare forskning, leder minskad kontanthantering till flertalet fördelar såsom kraftigare ekonomisk tillväxt, ökad transparens, minskade kostnader samt minskad ekonomiskt brottslighet. De fördelar som kontantlösa betalningar skapar kan vara kopplade till hur innovativt ett land är och hur mycket kontanta medel som cirkulerar i ett lands ekonomi. Ett potentiellt samband mellan mängd kontanter som cirkulerar i ett samhälle och innovation i ett land kan vara tvåsidigt, till exempel att minskade mängder kontanter i ekonomin kan skapa innovation eller så kan kontantlösa betalningar skapas av hög innovationsnivån i ett land. För att kunna undersöka ett potentiellt samband, utförs en korrelationsanalys mellan de två variablerna: nationell innovationsnivå och mängd kontanter i cirkulation i ekonomin. Global Innovation Index används för att sammanfatta olika faktorer som ger en översikt över den nationella innovationsnivå per land och en procentandel av bruttonationalprodukten (BNP) kommer att användas för mängd valuta i omlopp. Enligt framkomna resultat från korrelationsanalysen kunde hypotesen om att det finns ett samband mellan kassaflöde och innovationsnivå i ett land inte förkastas.

Yes / Digital payment methods (DPMs) are evolving fast but they are yet to be widely adopted particularly in the developing countries. An initial review of literature suggests that several studies have already been conducted on this topic for understanding antecedents of digital payments adoption. However, only a few studies have examined this emerging topic in the context of developing countries. The aim of this submission is to identify antecedents of consumer adoption and usage of digital payments methods. The results of this literature analysis suggest that constructs related to technology acceptance model (TAM) and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) along with trust and risk are the most frequently examined constructs for determining consumer’s behavioural intention to use and usage of DPMs. The findings from this work can help researchers selecting factors for inclusion in the future empirical works on this topic.

Rapid digitalisation development has been stampeding widely across today’s societies, and not least in the payment industry. Though, the digitalisation in the payment industry has been very deviating, even between similar well-developed countries, and while there are positive and negative effects with both digital- and physical payment means, there is little knowledge that highlights the influencing factors and accompanied problems. This study therefore explore swhich, and how, different factors influence a country’s degree of digital payments, and creates further understanding of where the payment markets are heading in the future. It is done through a case study of four different industrialised countries, Sweden, Italy, Canada, and Switzerland which involves mapping the countries’ payment markets, as well as potential factors influencing a population’s payment habits, through a perspective of innovation theory in terms of dominant designs and technological discontinuities. Theory of network externalities and two-sided platforms are further used to explain and discuss how a two-sided market, likethe payment market, is affected by changes and other circumstances in different ways.Conclusions are then drawn from the used theories together with a comparison of the findings,and identifies certain influencers to a country’s distribution of payments, as well as provides indications of where the different payments markets are heading in the future. Data is mainly gathered through written material and credible databases, but also from semi-structured interviews. / Den snabba digitaliseringen har slagit sig fram i dagens samhällen, och inte minst i betalningsindustrin. Dock har digitaliseringen i betalningsindustrin varit mycket avvikande mellan liknande välutvecklade länder, och medan det finns positiva och negativa effekter med både digitala och fysiska betalningsmedel, finns det inte mycket kunskap om påverkandefaktorer och medföljande problem. Denna studie undersöker därför vilka, och hur, olika faktorer påverkar ett lands grad av digitala betalningar, och vidare skapar ytterligare förståelse för var betalningsmarknaderna är på väg framöver. Detta görs genom en fallstudie av fyra olika industrialiserade länder, Sverige, Italien, Kanada och Schweiz, som innebär en kartläggning av ländernas betalningsmarknader, och av potentiella faktorer som påverkar befolkningens betalningsvanor, genom ett perspektiv från innovationsteori i form av dominerande design och tekniska diskontinuiteter. Teori om nätverksexternaliteter och tvåsidiga plattformar används vidare för att förklara och diskutera hur en tvåsidig marknad som betalningsmarknadenpåverkas av förändringar och andra omständigheter. Slutsatser dras sedan från de användateorierna tillsammans med en jämförelse av resultaten och identifierar påverkande faktorer tillett lands betalningsdistribution, samt ger indikationer på var de olika betalningsmarknaderna är på väg framöver. Data samlades huvudsakligen in genom skriftligt material och från tillförlitliga databaser, men även från semistrukturerade intervjuer.