Purpose Cryptocurrency has revolutionized the financial landscape by enabling transparency, security and fostering innovation across investors. Accordingly, the study examines the factors impacting consumer behavior towards cryptocurrency adoption for transactions by comparing urban and rural contexts through the “unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT3)” model. Design/methodology/approach This article consists of two cross-sectional surveys: Study R has 398 rural investors, whereas Study U contains 405 urban investors to examine cryptocurrency adoption. Furthermore, data analysis was conducted using the “partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM)” technique. Findings The results concluded that performance expectancy, social influence and hedonic motivation positively impact behavioral intention and use behavior towards cryptocurrency adoption. In contrast, effort expectancy insignificantly impacts rural (Study R) and urban investors (Study U). Additionally, personal innovativeness and financial literacy positively influence; however, perceived risk insignificantly influences behavioral intention and use behavior in Study R and U. Surprisingly, facilitating conditions had a substantial impact in Study U. However, in Study R, they had no significant influence on behavioral intention and use behavior. Originality/value This paper bridges existing research gaps by providing cryptocurrency practitioners and regulators with valuable insights to expand their knowledge base and prioritize key intentions. Despite the ongoing growth in cryptocurrency, academic research remains in its early stages, with limited focus on this innovation. Additionally, the researchers argue that none of the previous research has yet executed a comparative study between rural and urban perspectives on this latest investment regime.
Kumar et al. (Fri,) studied this question.