A Structural Topic Model for Exploring User Satisfaction with Mobile Payments

Abstract

This study explored user satisfaction with mobile payments by applying a novel structural topic model. Specifically, we collected 17,927 online reviews of a specific mobile payment (i.e., PayPal). Then, we employed a structural topic model to investigate the relationship between the attributes extracted from online reviews and user satisfaction with mobile payment. Consequently, we discovered that “lack of reliability” and “poor customer service” tend to appear in negative reviews. Whereas, the terms “convenience,” “user-friendly interface,” “simple process,” and “secure system” tend to appear in positive reviews. On the basis of information system success theory, we categorized the topics “convenience,” “user-friendly interface,” and “simple process,” as system quality. In addition, “poor customer service” was categorized as service quality. Furthermore, based on the previous studies of trust and security, “lack of reliability” and “secure system” were categorized as trust and security, respectively. These outcomes indicate that users are satisfied when they perceive that system quality and security of specific mobile payments are great. On the contrary, users are dissatisfied when they feel that service quality and reliability of specific mobile payments is lacking. Overall, our research implies that a novel structural topic model is an effective method to explore mobile payment user experience.