The Roles of FinTech with Perceived Mediators in Consumer Financial Satisfaction with Cashless Payments

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between FinTech payments and consumer financial satisfaction with cashless payments using data from the 2017 China Household Finance Survey. This study defines computer payment and mobile terminal payment using a cell phone or pad as payments with FinTech. The results indicate that payments with FinTech are positively associated with financial satisfaction with cashless payments. Furthermore, this result holds in the eastern and central groups of China, but not in the western group, where payments with FinTech are not associated with financial satisfaction with cashless payments. Similarly, the positive association does not hold for consumers with low financial literacy. Moreover, analyses on the mediating effects imply that payments with FinTech play roles through three perceived mediators. Specifically, payments with FinTech help increase consumers’ perceived convenience and perceived popularity as well as reduce perceived risk, which eventually improves financial satisfaction with cashless payments. These findings have implications for consumer policymakers, such as improving the development of FinTech, noticing the heterogeneity in terms of location, and guiding consumers to correctly understand the risks associated with FinTech. Surrounding this issue, future studies may also explore other mediators related to psychology and expand the connotation of Fintech from payments with FinTech to lending and portfolio investments with FinTech.