Acceptance of Mobile Financial Services by University Students in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Technological innovations, especially in mobile communication shape interactions, lifestyles, and financial services, with mobile communication exerting unparalleled influence on daily life. The study’s main objective was to assess acceptance of mobile financial services by university students in Dar es salaam, Tanzania. It was undertaken in four universities. Anchored on the integration of the technology acceptance model and the united theory on usage and adoption of technology, the study leverages on the PLS-SEM to establish the most significant stimulus on users’ intents for adopting mobile financial services as being utility perceptions, ease of usage perceptions, facilitative conditions, as well as attitude. The quantitative survey involving 449 students highlights remarkable diminution of fears and high utilization levels where 95.5 percent are extant users of mobile financial services. Similarly, the study has found that attitude partially mediated the interaction involving utility perceptions and ease of usage perceptions with use intentions. On contrast, social inspiration and risk perceptions had marginal impact on use intentions. While statistically insignificant, gender variations were evident with female subjects largely influenced by utility and simplicity features and males more responsive to facilitative conditions and customer attitude. Study findings accentuate the critical role of earmarked factors for effective interventions intended for raising financial inclusion. Future research focused on youths non students and emerging technologies including artificial intelligence, blockchain and other machine aided financial transactions would provide useful insights for broader application, policy interventions and contribute to the stock of scholarly theoretical knowledge.