Assessing the Impact of Mobile Technology on Fintech Enabled Payment Systems in Emerging Markets

Mursalim Nohong; Nur Alamzah; Amer Ahmad Hatamleh; Muhammad Try Dharsana; Andi Iqra Pradipta Natsir; Fakhrul Indra Hermansyah

doi:10.3991/ijim.v20i03.60057

Authors

Mursalim Nohong Hasanuddin University, Makassar, Indonesia
Nur Alamzah Hasanuddin University, Makassar, Indonesia
Amer Ahmad Hatamleh Irbid National University, Irbid, Jordan
Muhammad Try Dharsana Hasanuddin University, Makassar, Indonesia
Andi Iqra Pradipta Natsir Hasanuddin University, Makassar, Indonesia
Fakhrul Indra Hermansyah Hasanuddin University, Makassar, Indonesia https://orcid.org/0009-0000-6246-2954

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v20i03.60057

Keywords:

FinTech, mobile payments, lifestyle embeddedness, customer loyalty, Indonesia

Abstract

This study examines the influence of competitive innovation and ecosystem integration on customer loyalty and usage intensity within Indonesia’s highly competitive mobile payment sector, focusing on the three leading providers: OVO, GoPay and DANA. A cross-sectional survey of 395 active users and analysis using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) reveal that lifestyle embeddedness fully mediates the effects of both competitive innovation and ecosystem integration on customer loyalty. Both factors significantly enhance lifestyle embeddedness, which in turn strongly predicts loyalty and usage intensity. These findings shift the theoretical perspective from feature-based competition to the behavioural embedding of services into daily routines. For practitioners, the results highlight that long-term user retention in emerging-market FinTech is primarily achieved through seamless and pervasive ecosystem integration rather than isolated feature superiority. This study is the first to empirically identify lifestyle embeddedness as the central mediating mechanism in a saturated, triopoly-dominated mobile payment market.

References

[1] Muthukannan, Priyadharshini, Barney Tan, Felix Ter Chian Tan, and Carmen Leong. "Novel mechanisms of scalability of financial services in an emerging market context: Insights from Indonesian Fintech Ecosystem." International Journal of Information Management 61 (2021): 102403.

[2] Omarini, Anna Eugenia. "Fintech and the future of the payment landscape: the mobile wallet ecosystem. A challenge for retail banks?" International Journal of Financial Research 9, no. 4 (2018): 97-116.

[3] Utami, Ami Fitri, and Irwan Adi Ekaputra. "A paradigm shift in financial landscape: encouraging collaboration and innovation among Indonesian FinTech lending players." Journal of Science and Technology Policy Management 12, no. 2 (2021): 309-330.

[4] Dewantoko, Tri Andi. "Banking and Fintech in the Digital Financial Ecosystem for the Unbankable Population." Journal of Banks and Financial Institutions 1, no. 1 (2025): 14-25.

[5] Teja, Adrian. "Indonesian fintech business: New innovations or foster and collaborate in business ecosystems?." The Asian Journal of Technology Management 10, no. 1 (2017): 10.

[6] Rachmawati, Ivany, Marcella Witanto, Adityo Nugroho, and Peri A. Manaf. "Role of fintech services providers and stakeholders as drivers in digital payment ecosystems." Retrieved October 10 (2019): 2021.

[7] Bibi, U., & Safia Shaukat, H. (2023). The Interaction Effect Crisis Communication on Emotional Exhaustion: A Study on the Banking Sector of Pakistan. International Journal of Management Thinking, 1(1), 20–40. https://doi.org/10.56868/ijmt.v1i1.10.

[8] Aldhi, Ian Firstian, Fendy Suhariadi, Elisabeth Supriharyanti, Elvia Rahmawati, and Dwi Hardaningtyas. "Financial technology in recovery: Behavioral usage of payment systems by Indonesian MSMEs in the post-pandemic era." International Journal of Computing and Digital Systems 16, no. 1 (2024): 1329-1341.

[9] Prihatmoko, Ganang. "Digital Payment Shifting in Micro and Small Business: Economic Opportunities and Market Impacts." Sukuk: International Journal Of Banking, Finance, Management And Business 4, no. II (2025): 63-79.

[10] Sajtos, Laszlo, Henning Kreis, and Roderick Brodie. "Image, brand relationships and customer value: Exploring the moderating role of advertising spending-and labour-intensity in customer loyalty." Journal of Service Theory and Practice 25, no. 1 (2015): 51-74.

[11] Choi, Youngtae, Andrew Thoeni, and Michael W. Kroff. "Brand actions on social media: Direct effects on electronic word of mouth (eWOM) and moderating effects of brand loyalty and social media usage intensity." Journal of Relationship Marketing 17, no. 1 (2018): 52-70.

[12] Rowley, Jennifer, and Jillian Dawes. "Customer loyalty–a relevant concept for libraries?." Library management 20, no. 6 (1999): 345-351.

[13] Cotarelo, Mitxel, Teresa Fayos, Haydeé Calderón, and Alejandro Mollá. "Omni-channel intensity and shopping value as key drivers of customer satisfaction and loyalty." Sustainability 13, no. 11 (2021): 5961.

[14] Upamannyu, Nischay Kumar, Sneha Rajput, and S. S. Bhakar. "Antecedents of customer loyalty and word of mouth: A study on consumer durables in emerging economies." FIIB Business Review 12, no. 4 (2023): 439-458.

[15] Yin, Jianhua, and Shaoqing Shi. "Analysis of the mediating role of social network embeddedness on low-carbon household behaviour: Evidence from China." Journal of Cleaner Production 234 (2019): 858-866.

[16] Xu, Na, and Yanpu Zhao. "A moderated mediation analysis of the relationship between cultural embeddedness of regional brand products and behavior loyalty: a case study of Wudang Mountains in Hubei province of China." Sustainability 15, no. 10 (2023): 7927.

[17] Thakur, Shweta Jaiswal, and Jyotsna Bhatnagar. "Mediator analysis of job embeddedness: Relationship between work-life balance practices and turnover intentions." Employee Relations 39, no. 5 (2017): 718-731.

[18] Saleilles, Séverine, and Marie Gomez-Velasco. "The local embeddedness of lifestyle entrepreneur: an exploratory study." In Interdisciplinary European Conference on Entrepreneurship Research 2007. 2007.

[19] Eimermann, Marco, and Stefan Kordel. "International lifestyle migrant entrepreneurs in two new immigration destinations: Understanding their evolving mix of embeddedness." Journal of Rural Studies 64 (2018): 241-252.

[20] Zulkarnain, Zulkarnain, Sherry Hadiyani, Ferry Novliadi, and Amarisma Gusria. "Work-life balance as a moderator between job embeddedness and turnover intention." SA Journal of Human Resource Management 23 (2025): 3063.

[21] Dias, Álvaro, Maria Rosario González‐Rodríguez, and Mafalda Patuleia. "Retaining tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs for destination competitiveness." International Journal of Tourism Research 23, no. 4 (2021): 701-712.

[22] Li, Q. (2024). The Impact of Mobile Payments on the Financial Management Efficiency of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM), 18(21), pp. 171–184. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v18i21.52245

[23] Calik, Eyup, Fethi Calisir, and Basak Cetinguc. "A scale development for innovation capability measurement." Journal of Advanced Management Science Vol 5, no. 2 (2017): 69-76.