Informational attributes behind consumer payment habits and settlement preference

Sammanfattning: Sweden is known for being at the forefront of becoming a cashless society.However, cash continues to be an important part of the payment ecosystem butthere are limited studies and data regarding the preference for holding cash. Previousstudies have shown that the use of cash is declining with regards to comers and thatthere are behavior differences between cultures and sociodemographic groups inregards to characteristics and preferences for payment methods. The aim of thisstudy was to investigate the informational attributes that drives the preference forholding cash by studying two extreme cases, Sweden which is a pioneer of cashlesssociety, and Germany which is one of the most conservative cash-intensivecountries in the Western world. Primary quantitative data was derived fromstandardized questionnaires issued in both countries by Loomis AB; the data wasdescribed and analyzed with applicable statistical procedures. A multivariate analysiswas performed on a specific segment of the collected data were the respondents hadbeen asked to rate cash associated statements based on their agreeableness towardsthem. These segments were then examined through a Principal component analysisto determine the underlying dimensions regarding preferences for cash. Our resultssuggest that Germans withdrew cash more frequently, from a wider spectrum ofdenominations and carried it to a larger extend than Swedes. Swedes made limitedwithdrawals, of small denominations and preferred to carry smaller amounts of cash.The results also show that there were differences in the perception and preferencesfor cash between sociodemographic groups, with e.g. older age groups being used to itand the youngest using it due to ‘status quo bias’. The main conclusions include thatthe informational attributes such as security, anonymity, ease of use and paymentinfrastructure was the main drives for the preferences of holding cash.