Technology adoption and consumer payments : evidence from survey data

Consumers pay for hundreds of goods and services each year, but across households and across goods, consumers do not choose to pay the same way. This paper posits that these differences depend in part on consumers' propensity to adopt new technologies, and depend in part on the nature of the transaction. In order to test these hypotheses, this paper offers comparisons of payment instrument use at the point of sale and for bill payment from a sample of consumers surveyed in 2001, drawn primarily from users of the Internet. The results indicate that consumers who use technology or computers are more likely to use electronic forms of payment. In addition, use of direct deposit is a significant predictor of use of electronic payments. Furthermore, payment choice depends on the characteristics of the transaction. By analyzing these hypotheses together, consumer payment choice may lend insight into consumer technology adoption behavior more generally.