Mobile Payment Protocol with Deniably Authenticated Property

Mobile payment services have been widely applied in our daily life, where users can conduct transactions in a convenient way. However, critical privacy concerns have arisen. Specifically, a risk of participating in a transaction is the disclosure of personal privacy. This might occur if, for example, the user pays for some special medicine, such as AIDS medicine or contraceptives. In this paper, we propose a mobile payment protocol that is suitable for mobile devices only with limited computing resources. In particular, the user in a transaction can confirm the identity of others in the same transaction while the user cannot show convincing evidence to prove that others also take part in the same transactions. We implement the proposed protocol and test its computation overhead. The experiment results corroborate that the proposed protocol is suitable for mobile devices with limited computing resources.

The Effect of Mobile Payment on Payment Waiting Time for Outpatients With Medical Insurance: Historically Controlled Study

BACKGROUND

Waiting for a long time to make payments in outpatient wards and long queues of insured patients at the checkout window are common in many hospitals across China. To alleviate the problem of long queues for payment, many hospitals in China have established various mobile apps that those without health insurance can use. However, medically insured outpatients are still required to pay manually at the checkout window. Therefore, it is urgent to use information technology to innovate and optimize the outpatient service process, implement mobile payment for medically insured outpatients, and shorten the waiting time for outpatients, especially in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic. Furthermore, smartphone-based mobile payment for outpatients with health insurance could be superior to on-site cashier billing.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to investigate the impact of smartphone-based mobile payment in relation to different aspects, such as waiting time, satisfaction with patients' waiting time, payment experience, the proportion of those dissatisfied with payment, total outpatient satisfaction, and outpatient volume, and compare mobile payment with on-site payment.

METHODS

This was a historically controlled study. This study analyzed the outpatients' waiting time to make a medical insurance payment, their satisfaction with the waiting time and payment experience, the proportion of those dissatisfied with payment, and the outpatient volume of patients at Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center 1 year before and after the implementation of mobile payment for medical insurance in January 2021. An independent sample 2-tailed t test was used to compare waiting time, satisfaction with waiting time, and overall satisfaction. Paired sample 2-tailed t test was used to compare monthly outpatient visits. The chi-square test was used to compare the percentages of patients dissatisfied with payment.

RESULTS

After the implementation of mobile payment for medical insurance outpatients, the patients' payment waiting time was significantly shortened (mean 45.28, SD 10.35 min vs mean 1.02, SD 0.25 min; t₉₀₁₄=53.396; P<.001), and satisfaction with waiting time and payment experience were significantly improved (mean 82.08, SD 3.17 vs mean 90.36, SD 3.45; t₉₀₁₄=-118.65; P<.001). Dissatisfaction with payment significantly decreased (10.27%, SD 2.18% vs 1.19% vs SD 0.30%; P<.001). The total satisfaction of outpatients significantly improved (mean 86.91, SD 3.23 vs mean 89.98, SD 3.31; t₉₀₁₄=-44.57; P<.001), and the outpatient volume increased (248,105.58, SD 89,280.76 vs 303,194.75, SD 53,773.12; t₁₁=2.414; P=.03). Furthermore, payment efficiency improved, and the number of the on-site cashiers substantially decreased.

CONCLUSIONS

Mobile payment for health insurance significantly shortened patients' payment waiting time; improved patient satisfaction on waiting time and payment experience and overall satisfaction; reduced the proportion of patients who were dissatisfied with payment and the cashier at the hospital; and increased monthly outpatient volume. This approach was effective and thus worthy of promoting.

Predicting Older Adults' Mobile Payment Adoption: An Extended TAM Model

This study adopted an advanced model, combining the technology acceptance model, the theory of reasoned action, the diffusion of innovations, trust, and five aspects of perceived risk, to measure the factors that influence the behavioral intentions of older adults to use mobile payments. A total of 365 questionnaires were collected from older adults aged 55 years or older from 20 community care sites in central Taiwan. Partial least-squares structural equation modeling was used to test our research model. The results showed that attitude was the main determinant of M-payment in older adults. Moreover, increasing the usefulness, ease of use, and observability of M-payment helped older adults improve their attitudes toward M-payment, thereby increasing their intention to use it. Trust had a significant effect on the usefulness and ease of use of M-payment, while the main factors affecting trust were only performance and financial risks.

The Impact of Mobile Payment on Household Poverty Vulnerability: A Study Based on CHFS2017 in China

Changes in digital technology have brought about new opportunities in the field of financial poverty alleviation in China, and mobile payment as a new digital financial model is important in helping families to lift themselves out of poverty effectively and prevent a return to poverty. This paper examines the impact of mobile payment on household poverty vulnerability and the mechanism of action using the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) 2017 microsurvey data. After adopting the IVprobit model and a series of robustness tests, we found: (1) mobile payment significantly negatively impacts household poverty vulnerability; (2) the mechanism analysis indicates that promoting entrepreneurship and improving risk management capabilities are the main channels through which mobile payment mitigates household poverty vulnerability; (3) household entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial survival significantly reduce the probability of poverty vulnerability; and (4) the probit regression analysis explores how mobile payment has a greater negative impact on poverty vulnerability among low-income, homeless, and relatively backward households in rural or western areas. This work contributes to the literature on the use of electronic communication technology to eradicate poverty and on inclusive finance, providing vital results for other countries to use as an example.

Can Mobile Payment Increase Household Income and Mitigate the Lower Income Condition Caused by Health Risks? Evidence from Rural China

China has moved into a new stage of its fight against poverty, where the further raising of rural household income is of great importance. Health risk is one of the biggest obstacles to the poverty reduction progress. Therefore, how to cope with the negative effects of health risks has attracted the attention of scholars, especially in the background of the global outbreak of COVID-19. In this paper, we try to explore whether mobile payment, a new form of payment, can improve the income of rural households and mitigate the lower income condition caused by health risks in China. Using data from the 2017 China Household Finance Survey, we found: (1) mobile payment can substantially increase rural household income; (2) health risks will lower the income of rural residents, but mobile payment can lessen this negative effect. Mechanism analysis indicates that mobile payment is likely to ease liquidity constraints, increase social interaction, and stimulate entrepreneurship for rural households. We advised the government to promote mobile payment adoption in rural areas and enhance its design. Additionally, better medical resources should also be made available to rural households.

Bridging the Digital Divide: Childhood Social Relationships and Mobile Payment Use Among Chinese Middle-Aged and Older Adults

This research accordingly examines the effect of childhood social relationships on the use of mobile payment and e-money among Chinese middle-aged and older adults from a life course perspective and tests the mediation role of social activities in such a path with the Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) method. The findings support that good childhood community relationships, peer relationships, and close relationships positively affect mobile payment and electronic money use when people enter middle and old age. These effects are significantly mediated by social activities in later life. The findings make marginal contributions to life course theory (LCT), with practical implications for individuals, commercial enterprises, governments, and societies in their efforts to facilitate a society that promotes the digital inclusion of middle-aged and older adults.

Mobile payment adoption in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic

Current situation in COVID-19 pandemic as well as the significant digital transformation, where the whole world is being forced to participate, are lead for a wide acceptance to use the mobile payments. The main objective for the current study is to focus on analysing the primary variable “intention to use” through the Apple Wallet mobile payment system “apple wallet app” in United Arab Emirates (UAE), in addition to defining a context and evaluating the various antecedents of its use. The main variables that addressed by the current study are ability to use (skilfulness), perceived usefulness, convenience of the system, perceived risk and the primary variable that mentioned before was intention to use. To conduct the study, we invited 422 respondents to an online survey, and we have used a structural equation modelling analysis. The results indicate that mobile user skilfulness is the variable that most influences the intention to use the proposed payment system, followed by perceived usefulness and convenience of the system, while the perceived risk has a weak negative relationship with intention to use mobile payment via apple wallet app in the light of high Cybersecurity Index in the UAE.

Using Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology to Evaluate the Impact of a Mobile Payment App on the Shopping Intention and Usage Behavior of Middle-Aged Customers

This research adopted the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to emphasize the use of the PX Pay mobile payment app for PX Mart, the most popular supermarket in Taiwan, and examine the degree of involvement as a moderator. The influence of factors related to PX Mart's target customer groups on their shopping intentions and usage behaviors were discussed, with subsequent benefits and optimization directions. This study indicated the following results. First, performance expectations, ease-of-use expectations, and social impact enhance consumers' behavioral intention and behavioral intention significantly influence usage behavior. Second, gender has no significant moderating effect on the proposed model. Third, age has a moderating effect from performance expectations and ease-of-use expectations, social influence on behavioral intention. Fourth, use is more significantly affected by perceived stakeholders for customers over age 50 than for those age 30-39. Fifth, the degree of involvement significantly affects the relationship between behavioral intention and usage behavior in terms of social influence and facilitating conditions effects. Finally, we provided academic and practical implications and make contributions to both the online payment industry and academia.

Improving the Sustainable Usage Intention of Mobile Payments: Extended Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology Model Combined With the Information System Success Model and Initial Trust Model

Under the background of global cross-border mobile commerce (m-commerce) integration, the importance of cross-border payment research is becoming increasingly prominent and urgent. The important value of this study is to empirically research the influence power of key elements in using two different mobile payment (m-payment) platforms in Korea. The extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) has been widely applied in various studies because of its strong interpretive power. In Korea, there are a few empirical studies on Chinese users. Based on a survey of 908 Chinese participants (486 WeChat Pay's Chinese users and 465 Kakao Pay's Korean users) in Korea, this study is one application extending UTAUT2 by incorporating multi-group and multi-model constructs: UTAUT2, information system success (ISS) model, and an initial trust model (ITM), considering a multi-group analysis with some mediating variables (payment difference). By comparing the two different payment platforms' characters, this manuscript provides a set of targeted measures to ensure Chinese WeChat Payment platform decision-makers create effective long-term strategic policies for cross-border m-payments in Korea, and eventually, benefit cross-border m-commerce and economic cooperation in Southeast Asia.

The Study of Factors on the Small and Medium Enterprises' Adoption of Mobile Payment: Implications for the COVID-19 Era

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic pushes people looking for shopping alternatives, seeking to avoid handling cash in favor of a safe and quick mobile payment. At this juncture, this paper examines the determinants of the adoption of mobile payment services among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in China. The study proposes four-dimensional factors (business factors, technological competence, environment, and consumers' intentions) based on the literature review findings to understand the challenges of adopting mobile payment. A questionnaire is designed to solicit information from the participants. The findings reveal that business factors, technological competencies of SMEs in China, and the environment positively influence mobile payment adoption. Consumer intention has almost no influence on the adoption of mobile payment. Potential implications for the COVID-19 era are also discussed.

How Does the Pandemic Facilitate Mobile Payment? An Investigation on Users' Perspective under the COVID-19 Pandemic

Owing to the convenience, reliability and contact-free feature of Mobile payment (M-payment), it has been diffusely adopted in China during the COVID-19 pandemic to reduce the direct and indirect contacts in transactions, allowing social distancing to be maintained and facilitating stabilization of the social economy. This paper aims to comprehensively investigate the technological and mental factors affecting users’ adoption intentions of M-payment under the COVID-19 pandemic, to expand the domain of technology adoption under the emergency situation. This study integrated Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) with perceived benefits from Mental Accounting Theory (MAT), and two additional variables (perceived security and trust) to investigate 739 smartphone users’ adoption intentions of M-payment during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. The empirical results showed that users’ technological and mental perceptions conjointly influence their adoption intentions of M-payment during the COVID-19 pandemic, wherein perceived benefits are significantly determined by social influence and trust, corresponding with the situation of pandemic. This study initially integrated UTAUT with MAT to develop the theoretical framework for investigating users’ adoption intentions. Meanwhile, this study originally investigated the antecedents of M-payment adoption under the pandemic situation and indicated that users’ perceptions will be positively influenced when technology’s specific characteristics can benefit a particular situation.

QR code and mobile payment: The disruptive forces in retail

The emergence of mobile payment (m-payment) resulted in the disruption of many sectors in the business sphere, particularly the retail industry. However, the acceptance of m-payment still has substantial room for improvement. Therefore, this study purports to ascertain the critical antecedents that impact the m-payment adoption intention, in particular the type of m-payment that utilizes the Quick Response (QR) code technology, through an extended Mobile Technology Acceptance Model. On top of offering several theoretical implications, numerous practical implications are also provided for stakeholders in the retail sector.

EMV-Compatible Offline Mobile Payment Protocol with Mutual Authentication

In 2014, Yang proposed a method to enhance the current EMV credit card protocol (EPMAR). However, the protocol ignores the exceeding of a credit quota caused by multiple offline transactions, with the result that the amount spent can exceed the risk control scope. In this paper, we proposed an EMV-compatible offline mobile payment protocol with mutual authentication (EOPMA) to enhance EPMAR. In EOPMA, we use the reverse hash chain technique to guarantee the payment, which solves the problem of credit quotas getting exceeded because of multiple offline payments. During a transaction, in addition to payment for merchandise, an offline authorization certificate for the transaction is sent to the merchant. The merchant can verify the correctness of the transaction in real time. Our protocol is compatible with the EMV standard, which is applicable to the retail environment of numerous merchants and effectively, making EMV transactions more secure and reliable. We use numerical analysis to examine the security and performance of the protocols. We formally check the correctness of EOPMA by using the Gong-Needham-Yahalom logic.

An Indoor Positioning-Based Mobile Payment System Using Bluetooth Low Energy Technology

The development of information technology has paved the way for faster and more convenient payment process flows and new methodology for the design and implementation of next generation payment systems. The growth of smartphone usage nowadays has fostered a new and popular mobile payment environment. Most of the current generation smartphones support Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology to communicate with nearby BLE-enabled devices. It is plausible to construct an Over-the-Air BLE-based mobile payment system as one of the payment methods for people living in modern societies. In this paper, a secure indoor positioning-based mobile payment authentication protocol with BLE technology and the corresponding mobile payment system design are proposed. The proposed protocol consists of three phases: initialization phase, session key construction phase, and authentication phase. When a customer moves toward the POS counter area, the proposed mobile payment system will automatically detect the position of the customer to confirm whether the customer is ready for the checkout process. Once the system has identified the customer is standing within the payment-enabled area, the payment system will invoke authentication process between POS and the customer’s smartphone through BLE communication channel to generate a secure session key and establish an authenticated communication session to perform the payment transaction accordingly. A prototype is implemented to assess the performance of the proposed design for mobile payment system. In addition, security analysis is conducted to evaluate the security strength of the proposed protocol.

QuickCash: Secure Transfer Payment Systems

Payment systems play a significant role in our daily lives. They are an important driver of economic activities and a vital part of the banking infrastructure of any country. Several current payment systems focus on security and reliability but pay less attention to users' needs and behaviors. For example, people may share their bankcards with friends or relatives to withdraw money for various reasons. This behavior can lead to a variety of privacy and security issues since the cardholder has to share a bankcard and other sensitive information such as a personal identification number (PIN). In addition, it is commonplace that cardholders may lose their cards, and may not be able to access their accounts due to various reasons. Furthermore, transferring money to an individual who has lost their bankcard and identification information is not a straightforward task. A user-friendly person-to-person payment system is urgently needed to perform secure and reliable transactions that benefit from current technological advancements. In this paper, we propose two secure fund transfer methods termed QuickCash Online and QuickCash Offline to transfer money from peer to peer using the existing banking infrastructure. Our methods provide a convenient way to transfer money quickly, and they do not require using bank cards or any identification card. Unlike other person-to-person payment systems, the proposed methods do not require the receiving entity to have a bank account, or to perform any registration procedure. We implement our QuickCash payment systems and analyze their security strengths and properties.

World Health Organization's Innovative Direct Disbursement Mechanism for Payment of Grassroots Immunization Personnel and Operations in Nigeria: 2004-2015

Background. Following the 1988 World Health Assembly resolution to eradicate polio, the government of Nigeria, with support from partners, has been implementing several rounds of supplementary immunization activities (SIAs) each year. In addition to the technical requirements, the success of the polio eradication initiative depends on timely provision of adequate financial resources. Disbursement of funds for SIAs and payment of allowances to numerous vaccination personnel at the grassroots level are enormous operational challenges in a country the size of Nigeria. Upon donors' request for a transparent and effective payment mechanism, the World Health Organization (WHO), in consultation with national counterparts, created the innovative direct disbursement mechanism (DDM) in 2004. The objective of the DDM was to timely deploy operational funds at the field level and directly pay vaccination personnel allowances at the grassroots level.

Methods. A detailed operational guideline for funds disbursement was developed in close consultation with central and field stakeholders. Multiyear financial resource requirements and operational budgets for every campaign were produced by an interagency-coordinated finance subcommittee. The WHO engaged a bank and an accounting firm as DDM partners to support disbursement of and accounting for the SIA funds, respectively. The 37 WHO field offices were equipped with electronic financial systems to support the DDM process, and temporary payment sites were set up to facilitate payment to vaccination personnel at the grassroots level. Coordination meetings among DDM partners were held regularly to reconcile financial records and address operational challenges.

Results. Between 2004 and 2014, DDM supported 99 polio and nonpolio vaccination campaigns, disbursing more than $370 million to about 16 million beneficiaries across 280 temporary payment sites. To mitigate security risks and reduce operational costs, the WHO and DDM partners introduced mobile payment to vaccination personnel in May 2015 in compliance with national regulations. A total of 97% of the targeted 1871 beneficiaries in 2 pilot sites were successfully paid through mobile payment, although some challenges remain to be addressed.

Discussion. The DDM has met its objectives with a high rate of financial accountability and transparency, despite persistent operational and security challenges. With support from Nigeria, the Pakistan polio vaccination program successfully adopted the DDM. The DDM continues to play an important role in effective implementation of the polio endgame strategy and the national immunization strategic plan. As part of polio legacy planning, we recommend the DDM as a model for other opportunities that involve the engagement of large field-level teams as new vaccines are introduced in Nigeria and elsewhere.