**7. Final discussion, limitations, and future research opportunities**

### **7.1. Discussion of results**

Recent studies in the literature have thoroughly analyzed users' behavior in the adoption of the new mobile payment systems [27, 42, 67]. These studies have found and assessed the most significant barriers and drivers influencing the adoption of mobile payments. However, the focus of these research efforts was placed on consumers with no evaluation whatsoever from the perspective of the merchants. In addition, it is worth mentioning that most mobile payment adoption initiatives have failed before reaching consumers and merchants [15].

Even if a significant number of consulting firms are elaborating and delivering key, successful forecast studies predicting the future and potential behavior of customers toward the new mobile payment systems, real-world results show that these new payment tools have not yet really taken off and are actually in a difficult, serious situation derived from the conflict of interests of the different involved actors and the respective payment contexts.

In light of these findings, the aim of our research is to analyze the most significant barriers and drivers regarding the adoption of the new payment systems from the perspective of the merchants. In order to achieve this goal, this research approaches a qualitative and quantitative analysis carried out after a comprehensive literature review with the purpose of finding and examining the aforementioned factors affecting the use of mobile payment tools. As mentioned earlier in our study, research in this specific field of knowledge is scarce even if it could lead for brighter prospect regarding the future adoption of mobile payments.

This research corroborates the idea that the new technology is rather appealing for all actors involved in the respective market [17]. However, in terms of the benefits and advantages for the merchants, we believe that the new mobile payment tools would speed up the actual purchases while improving the security of the transactions at the same time, optimizing sales turnover and enabling new marketing strategies aimed toward smartphones. However, before reaching this point in the development and adoption of mobile payment systems, merchants need to overcome the different barriers and deterrents detected in this research.

This research has proven the importance of a certain set of deterrents and drivers affecting merchant adoption of mobile payment systems. Regarding the different barriers, the intention to use will definitely improve as long as users' knowledge of the new technology is also reinforced. For mobile payments to actually succeed in the current situation of the market, the following goals need to be achieved: (a) a real demand for this type of payments, (b) a higher perceived trust regarding the operation of the new technology, (c) optimizing and sharing the costs derived from the adoption of these payment systems, and (d) an enhanced security infrastructure to overcome possible technological issues related to the use and nature of mobile wireless devices. Finally, this research also found that perfecting the convenience, speed, security, and merchants' sales turnover associated with the use of the new payment systems leads to a considerably higher intention to use them.

#### **7.2. Limitations and future research opportunities**

Despite its contributions, this research also shows some limitations which provide fruitful avenues for future research. In the first place, as a preliminary study, this research only approached a basic statistical analysis. In this regard, researchers are currently developing a theoretical model aiming to examine the adoption of mobile payments by merchants across different countries. This model will also be contrasted and tested using structural equation modeling. This process should provide detailed results useful for researchers and users that could be projected to other markets. In addition, the sample employed in this research consisted only of Spanish merchants; in this regard, half of the actual respondents were employees of the different companies with no decision-making powers related to the adoption of the new payment technologies. In this sense, future research should approach the individuals in charge of this type of operations. In addition, an analysis following a longitudinal approach should facilitate the evaluation of the actual adoption instead of focusing solely on the behavioral intention. This type of analysis would also detect changes in the identified drivers and barriers over the continuous use of the mobile payment tools.
