The Effect of Reciprocity on Mobile Wallet Intention

Abstract

The authors build on the literature on reciprocity by exploring a prevalent social and economic phenomenon in the Philippines where individuals with positive mobile phone balances can SMS loads to acquaintances. This practice is known as “pasaload”—an abbreviation of Pass-A-Load. The research was designed based on the literature review that in turn resulted in a research model that focused on six constructs: reciprocity, loyalty, habit, switching costs, trust, and future repurchase. Hypotheses were developed as the basis for a scaled survey of 1050 Philippine smartphone users, with the questions adapted from but adhering closely to the original questions from appropriate articles in the literature review. Overall the mediating effects from the two models are consistent with the expectations from the literature and analysis. In the Philippine context, habit might be a strong mediator even if the true financial and convenience costs to switch is low.