Fallen into the Chasm: Exploring Mobile Payment Failed Initiative in Lebanon

Abstract

Several years after introducing the mobile payment service to the Lebanese market, it is clear that the new payment method has failed to take off, which brings up questions about the reasons behind these unmet expectations. The current paper uses the Technology-Organization-Environment framework to explore the factors with respect to its three pillars that could have prevented the diffusion of mobile payment into the market. Using a qualitative approach of multiple case studies, the findings suggest that the reasons for the low diffusion of mobile banking lies as much in the incompatible nor open technology as in the highly competitive organizational structure of the banking industry and, finally, the merchants' and consumers' unwillingness to adopt it.