Understanding Digital Wallet Use Through Financial and Technology Factors: An Extended UTAUT Approach

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the factors influencing behavioral intention and use behavior regarding digital wallets by extending the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model through the integration of financial literacy. A quantitative explanatory design was employed with 250 digital wallet users in Jakarta, Indonesia, selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected using a five-point Likert-scale questionnaire and analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Social influence and facilitating conditions positively affected behavioral intention, with path coefficients of 0.395 and 0.340, respectively, whereas performance expectancy and effort expectancy did not have significant effects. Behavioral intention strongly affected use behavior (β = 0.615). Financial literacy neither directly affected use behavior nor moderated the relationship between behavioral intention and use behavior. The findings refine the application of UTAUT by showing that social and facilitating factors, rather than perceived benefits, ease of use, or financial literacy, primarily explain digital wallet usage in this context. Digital wallet providers should strengthen user support, transaction access, and socially reinforced adoption. The study is original in positioning financial literacy as both an external predictor and a moderator in explaining digital wallet use.