Chetan Srivastava, Mahendar Goli and Vishnu Vandana
Understanding individual’s perceived threat and coping behaviour are critical components in the adoption of new technologies. Contactless payment services have witnessed a rapid surge and have become the new norm to avoid health/life threat during the COVID-19 pandemic scenario. However, there has been little attention on the adoption of contactless payments. The purpose of the research is to understand the antecedents of contactless payment services adoption based on the dimensions of protection motivation theory (PMT) and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT). The research model was tested empirically among 387 Indian users of contactless payment services during the pandemic. The results revealed that threat appraisal (perceived vulnerability and perceived susceptibility) as well as coping appraisal (self-efficacy and response efficacy) demonstrated positive effect on intention to use contactless payments. Moreover, both trust and effort expectancy significantly influenced the behavioural intention towards contactless payment services. The study provides theoretical and practical insights to enrich the understanding of the consumer shift towards contactless payment services during COVID-19 pandemic.