DETERMINANTS OF MOBILE MONEY ADOPTION IN NIGERIA: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY BASED ON TAM

Abstract

In Sub-Saharan Africa, mobile money has become a game-changer for financial inclusion, enhancing the availability, quality and use of financial services.  However, despite Nigeria's high mobile penetration rate, mobile banking usage is still very low.  With a focus on perceived utility, transaction costs, service quality, perceived ease of use, and trust. This study investigates the variables that affect behavioral intention to use mobile money services. A sample 400 respondents completed an online survey that was disseminated via social media channels, and SPSS was used to analyze the primary data used in this study.  Descriptive statistics, multiple regression, correlation, and reliability testing were all used in the analysis.  The findings show that willingness to utilize mobile money is highly influenced by perceived utility, service quality, and perceived simplicity of use, but transaction costs have a negative effect. Although trust was positively correlated with behavioral intention, it did not remain significant when controlling for other variables. These results imply that utility, affordability, and service dependability are more important to Nigerian consumers than trust alone.  The study emphasizes that in order to encourage widespread use of mobile money services in Nigeria, financial service providers must place a strong priority on value delivery, cost reduction, and service consistency.