Factors Influencing Acceptance of Mobile money Applications in Enterprise Management: A Case Study of Micro and Small Enterprise Owners in Kisumu Central Business District, Kenya

Abstract

The research aimed at determining factors influencing acceptance of mobile applications in enterprise management specifically testing whether relationship exists between demographic features, Perceived Usefulness (PU), Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU) and Perceived Risk (PR); and acceptance of mobile money payment among micro and small enterprises in Kisumu City, Kenya. The research exhibited descriptive correlational research design enabling the researcher to determine the strength of relationship between the variables of the study and the study employed simple random and purposive sampling technique for selection of the samples. The questionnaires were administered by the researcher with the help of two research assistants to the MSE " s Owners in Kisumu City CBD. A total of 271 respondents returned their questionnaires, resulting in a response rate of 95.8% which was considered satisfactory for subsequent analysis. Due to the quantitative nature of the study, the results were analyzed with statistical tools using mean, mode, median, frequency tables and multiple regression. The results indicated that Demographic features, PU, PEOU and PR are significantly related to acceptance of MMP. PEOU was found to be the most influential determinant of acceptance with r= 0.872, p-value= 0.013 at 0.05% significant level. The analysis also revealed that PR on MMP was the major hindrance of users accepting the technology with a negatively strong relationship of r value =-0.548 and p value =0.003. The study also established joint contributions of the four independent variables on acceptance of MMP but failed to establish the individual contribution of each independent variable on MMP hence there is need for further studies. 1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION The Communication Authority of Kenya (CAK) through the implementation of " The Kenya Communication Act " has provided an environment that has seen reforms in the telecommunication sector. This has enabled mobile telephony to grow exponentially hence providing base for successful technologies such as mobile banking (M-banking) and Electronic Money. Moreover, the Kenyan government " s policy is to promote and support innovation (Tobbin, 2012). Technology is being used by businesses like MSE " s today to enhance growth and competitiveness (Tobbin, 2012) .MSEs are developing new and innovative products to be able to maintain existing customers and to attract new market. One such innovation is the acceptance of mobile money payment. Mobile money has changed the way MSE " s perform their operations, this has led to the introduction of cashless mode of payments service facilitating electronic money example is LIPA NA MPESA aimed at lowering transaction risk, cost and reaching a larger number of customers (Mas, Ignacio, 2010;Tobbin,2012). Mobile money provides the potential of increasing efficiency of payments system and expanding access to formal financial services by those who presently lack it. At the same time, it could make banking more convenient and cheaper to those who already have bank account (Tossy, 2014).It " s clear that e-mobile money technology will make Kenya realized its vision of ensuring high level of saving to finance overall investment needs(Kenya " s Vision 2030). By using Lipa Na M-PESA, business owners can accept payment of goods and services from their customers. They will also handle less cash and will therefore be less susceptible to risks associated with cash handling such as theft and fake currency. In addition, Lipa Na M-PESA will also help traders enhance business efficiency (Safaricom, 2016). Although several MSEs in Kenya are adopting mobile money payment, there is little research that focuses on this enormous phenomena .Furthermore, numerous scholars in the developed countries found that mobile money payment