Evaluation of Mobile Application in User's Perspective: Case of P2P Lending Apps in FinTech Industry

Abstract

Financial technology, also known as FinTech, is one of the fast growing global businesses in since its inception in 2008. Fintech is a new economic industry, comprised of companies that adopted the latest technologies to provide more efficient financial services than the traditional financial services. Fintech companies are generally small to medium sized startups trying to disintermediate existing financial systems. FinTech companies can be differentiated in several areas, based on its business solutions and target customers. In Korea, the Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending companies are the most prominent in the FinTech sector. P2P lending is a method of borrowing or lending money to individuals through online services without the use of an official financial institution as an intermediary. The P2P lending companies operate their services entirely online or mobile environment. Consequently, mobile P2P lending application users are dramatically increasing. Thus, it is worth evaluating the acceptance of the mobile apps of the P2P lending companies from a user's perspective. This paper discusses user acceptance of the mobile P2P lending apps, guided by the Technology Acceptance Model. We conclude that the users' acceptance of mobile P2P lending apps are significantly influenced by perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and user satisfaction. These in turn influenced their attitude towards using mobile P2P lending apps and intention to use.