Chinese Travellers’ Adoption of Mobile Payment Applications of WeChat Pay and Alipay in New Zealand Hotels

Abstract

Mobile payment has become increasingly popular in various consumption situations from daily coffee orders to the farmer’s market in recent years. As a result, mobile payment has accelerated the evolving of a cashless society in many countries. However, in tourism and hospitality research, the adoption of mobile payment in the hotel industry remains in its infancy. New Zealand attracts over 1.2 million overseas visitors every year, yet the overseas traveller’s hotel experience, and especially payment experiences, have rarely been studied. As China is New Zealand’s second largest tourist sector, understanding Chinese travellers’ payment preferences is of practical importance to hospitality and tourism practitioners in New Zealand. This study examined Chinese travellers’ adoption intentions of mobile payment (WeChat Pay and Alipay) during their stay in New Zealand hotels based on the second unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) model. In particular, this study extends the UTAUT2 model by incorporating social influence as a moderator. Using an online questionnaire survey, data was collected from Chinese customers who had travelled to New Zealand (N = 183). The results reveal that habit, performance expectancy, and cost efficiency were important determinants of travellers’ intention to use mobile payment in New Zealand hotels. Social influence appeared to be a significant moderator in the relationships of performance expectancy and cost efficiency with adoption intention. The findings of the study could contribute to the body of knowledge of mobile payment adoption in the hotel industry and provide for hotel managers and marketers with valuable insights into better understandings of the payment preferences of Chinese guests to gain competitive advantage.