A Risk Perception Analysis on the use of Electronic Payment Systems by Young Adult

The use of technology in commercial activities for many years has led to the emergence of various new supporting services in the marketplace. Among the services is the e-payment which enables payment done via the electronic medium and without involving any physical cash. E-Payment systems have received different acceptance level throughout the world – some methods of e-payment are highly adopted while others are relatively lower. Primarily, perceived risk associated to the payment systems is believed to be one of the contributing factors to the low adoption rate. This study aimed to identify young adult’s perception of e-payment risk and their behaviour towards different payment methods. For the data collection purpose, survey questionnaires were distributed to students from tertiary institutions in a metropolitan city in Malaysia as the study sample. The findings showed significant difference in perceived risk between cash and E-Payment but less significant in terms of volume of purchase. We discuss the implications of the findings to service providers and policy makers and offer some recommendations to improve the epayment systems quality. Finally, the limitations of study and future directions of research are discussed. Key-Words: E-commerce, payment systems, risks, cash, payment cards.