Elvira Ismagiloiva

Yogesh Dwivedi

Nripendra Rana

Uthayasankar Sivarajah

Vishanth Weerakkody
email: v.weerakkody@bradford.ac.uky.k.dwivedi@swansea.ac.uk

Weight analysis of the factors affecting eWOM providing behavior

Keywords: eWOM, weight analysis, literature review, eWOM providing behaviour

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) significantly affects the consumer decision-making process. A number of studies investigated why consumers provide eWOM communications. Existing literature has contradicting factors regarding factors affect eWOM providing behaviour. This study aims to evaluate factors affecting eWOM providing behaviour by performing a systematic review and weight analysis of existing research outputs. Based on the result of weight analysis it was found that the best predictors of eWOM providing behaviour are involvement, self-enhancement, and trust in web eWOM services. Scholars can use the results of this study when making decisions regarding the inclusion of factors in their research. Practitioners can pay more attention to the best predictors.

Introduction

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) significantly affects the consumer decisionmaking process [START_REF] Dwivedi | Social media marketing and advertising[END_REF][START_REF] Alalwan | Social media in marketing: A review and analysis of the existing literature[END_REF]. eWOM is defined as "the dynamic and on-going information exchange process between potential, actual, or former consumers regarding a product, service, brand, or company, which is available to a multitude of people and institutions via the Internet" [START_REF] Ismagilova | Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) in the marketing context: A state of the art analysis and future directions[END_REF].

An increasing number of researchers and practitioners have started paying attention to eWOM communications [START_REF] Rathore | Social media content and product cocreation: an emerging paradigm[END_REF][START_REF] Shareef | Social media marketing: Comparative effect of advertisement sources[END_REF][START_REF] Shiau | Co-citation and cluster analyses of extant literature on social networks[END_REF]. A number of studies investigated factors affecting eWOM providing behaviour [START_REF] Choi | Electronic word of mouth and knowledge sharing on social network sites: a social capital perspective[END_REF][START_REF] Christodoulides | Cross-national differences in e-WOM influence[END_REF][START_REF] Saleem | Influence of electronic word of mouth on purchase intention of fashion products in social networking websites[END_REF][START_REF] Wu | The impact of power on service customers' willingness to post online reviews[END_REF]. Existing studies in this area have reported conflicting results on the effect of factors affecting eWOM providing behaviour. For instance, Luarn et al. [START_REF] Luarn | An exploratory study of the motives engaged in the dissemination of social word-of-mouth via mobile device[END_REF] found that altruism does not affect eWOM providing behaviour, while Cui et al. [START_REF] Cui | Empirical Study of the Motivations of E-WOM Spreading on Online feedback System in China[END_REF] found that altruism has a significant positive effect on eWOM providing behaviour. Another study by Shen et al. [START_REF] Shen | Electronic word-of-mouth in China: a motivational analysis[END_REF] by using surveys found that economic incentives do not have any significant impact on eWOM providing behaviour, while Son et al. [START_REF] Son | Investigating Factors Affecting Electronic Word-Of-Mouth In The Open Market Context: A Mixed Methods Approach[END_REF] found the opposite results-economic incentives positively affect individual's behaviour to provide eWOM. The mixed findings on the factors affecting eWOM providing behaviour can lead to confusion for scholars and practitioners.

Thus, it is crucial to conduct a review of existing studies on eWOM providing behaviour and perform weight analysis. Thus, the aim of this research is to examine factors affecting eWOM providing behaviour by performing a systematic review and weight analysis of existing research findings. Conducting weight analysis will help to investigate the predictive power of the independent variables on the dependent variables, by taking into account the number of times a relationship has been previously studied. The model developed through the weight analysis will help eWOM practitioners and scholars to focus on more influential factors of eWOM providing behaviour.

The remaining part of the paper is organised in the following way. Section 2 focuses on the method which was used for this study. Section 3 will present the literature review. After, the findings from weight analysis are presented and discussed in Section 4. Section 5 presents a conclusion followed by the limitations of this study and directions for future research.

Literature search method

To perform weight analysis peer-reviewed journal articles on eWOM communications were collected from bibliographic database Scopus, which is one of the world's largest abstract and citation databases of peer-reviewed literature. The searched keywords were selected after consulting the experts and included "Online review", "Online reviews", "Electronic word-of-mouth", "Electronic word of mouth", "eWOM", "Internet word-of-mouth", "Internet word of mouth", "iWOM", "Online word-of-mouth", "Online word of mouth", "Virtual word-of-mouth". As a result, more than 500 articles were identified published from 2000 untill 2018. Articles that did not focus on eWOM providing behaviour and did not have empirical findings were excluded, leaving 54 research papers relevant for this research.

Literature synthesis

An extensive number of studies investigated factors affecting eWOM providing behaviour. The studies were conducted in different contexts (e.g. SNS, opinion platforms, online review websites), countries (e.g. USA, China, Spain), using different products and services as examples (e.g. laptop, restaurants, hotels) [START_REF] Saleem | Influence of electronic word of mouth on purchase intention of fashion products in social networking websites[END_REF][START_REF] Hansen | What drives consumers to pass along marketer-generated eWOM in social network games? social and game factors in play[END_REF][START_REF] Lee | The contrasting attitudes of reviewer and seller in electronic word-of-mouth: a communicative action theory perspective[END_REF][START_REF] Tong | An empirical study of information contribution to online feedback systems: A motivation perspective[END_REF][START_REF] Zhang | Analysis of the relationship between involvement and the internet wordof-mouth[END_REF]. Additionally, studies used various methods for data collection such as surveys or data mining [START_REF] Cheung | What drives consumers to spread electronic word of mouth in online consumer-opinion platforms[END_REF][START_REF] Horng | A study of active and passive user participation in virtual communities[END_REF]. Studies applied a number of theories to study factors affecting eWOM providing behaviour such as social exchange theory, motivational theory and Uses and Gratification theory to name a few [START_REF] Tong | An empirical study of information contribution to online feedback systems: A motivation perspective[END_REF]. Based on the literature review 21 factors which affect eWOM providing behaviour were identified (see Table 1).

Table 1. Factors affecting eWOM providing behaviour

Construct Definition Number of studies

Representative studies

Influence of others

Influence by the behaviours and practices of other users. 6 [START_REF] Choi | Electronic word of mouth and knowledge sharing on social network sites: a social capital perspective[END_REF][START_REF] Christodoulides | Cross-national differences in e-WOM influence[END_REF] Information influence

Capacity to accept information from another knowledgeable person to select a product or brand.

[9, 10]

Tie strength

The depth of a relationship between source and information seeker. Variables included: tie strength, social interaction tie, perceived social relationships. 7 [START_REF] Niu | Influences of external incentives on consumers' positive electronic word-of-mouth intention[END_REF][START_REF] Wolny | Analysis of fashion consumers' motives to engage in electronic word-of-mouth communication through social media platforms[END_REF] Homophily The degree to which two or more individuals who interact are similar in certain attributes (e.g. beliefs, education, social status).

3 [START_REF] Saleem | Influence of electronic word of mouth on purchase intention of fashion products in social networking websites[END_REF][START_REF] Hansen | What drives consumers to pass along marketer-generated eWOM in social network games? social and game factors in play[END_REF] Economic incentive Getting economic benefits (e.g. money, web coupons, free delivery). Variables included: economic incentive, remuneration, extrinsic reward, open market reward.

12 [START_REF] Shen | Electronic word-of-mouth in China: a motivational analysis[END_REF][START_REF] Son | Investigating Factors Affecting Electronic Word-Of-Mouth In The Open Market Context: A Mixed Methods Approach[END_REF] Altruism The aim of increasing welfare of one or more person(s) other than oneself. 8 [START_REF] Luarn | An exploratory study of the motives engaged in the dissemination of social word-of-mouth via mobile device[END_REF][START_REF] Cui | Empirical Study of the Motivations of E-WOM Spreading on Online feedback System in China[END_REF] Selfenhancement Presenting themselves positively, sharing information to look good.

12 [START_REF] Cui | Empirical Study of the Motivations of E-WOM Spreading on Online feedback System in China[END_REF][START_REF] Hennig-Thurau | Electronic word-of-mouth via consumer-opinion platforms: what motivates consumers to articulate themselves on the internet[END_REF] Satisfaction in helping other customers Pleasant consumption fulfilment which happens as a result of helping other cus-4 [START_REF] Tong | An empirical study of information contribution to online feedback systems: A motivation perspective[END_REF][START_REF] Zhang | Analysis of the relationship between involvement and the internet wordof-mouth[END_REF] tomers.

Opinion seeking

Behaviour focused on looking for eWOM communications.

[ [START_REF] Nagy | Are opinion leaders more satisfied? Results of a SEM model about the relationship between opinion leadership and online customer satisfaction[END_REF][START_REF] Sun | Online word-of-mouth (or mouse): An exploration of its antecedents and consequences[END_REF] Opinion leadership A domain-independent, trait-like set of personality characteristics that are stable over time and across respondent groups. Opinion leaders shape public opinion by selectively conveying mass media messages to their social networks. [START_REF] Sun | Online word-of-mouth (or mouse): An exploration of its antecedents and consequences[END_REF][START_REF] Kucukemiroglu | Online word-of-mouth communication on social networking sites: An empirical study of Facebook users[END_REF] Community identity

Sense of belonging to the virtual (online) community. Variables included: community identification, social identification. [START_REF] Horng | A study of active and passive user participation in virtual communities[END_REF][START_REF] Yoo | Exploring the effect of e-WOM participation on e-Loyalty in e-commerce[END_REF] Reciprocity Benefit for individuals to engage in social exchange; a person who offers help to others is expecting returns in the future. [START_REF] Cheung | What drives consumers to spread electronic word of mouth in online consumer-opinion platforms[END_REF][START_REF] Horng | A study of active and passive user participation in virtual communities[END_REF]

Information usefulness

The degree to which the information assists consumers in making their purchase decisions. [START_REF] Frasquet | The role of the brand in driving online loyalty for multichannel retailers[END_REF][START_REF] Huang | Research on the relationships between hotel internet wordof-mouth and customers' behavior intention based on trust[END_REF] Affective commitment Affective (emotional) commitment derived from emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in an entity. [START_REF] Jin | Electronic Word-Of-Mouth Contribution Continuance in Online Opinion Platforms: The Role of Multiple Commitments[END_REF][START_REF] Li | The influence of trust and perceived playfulness on the relationship commitment of hospitality online social network-moderating effects of gender[END_REF] Normative commitment Motivated by the actor's moral obligation that s/he must fulfil. [START_REF] Jin | Electronic Word-Of-Mouth Contribution Continuance in Online Opinion Platforms: The Role of Multiple Commitments[END_REF][START_REF] Li | The influence of trust and perceived playfulness on the relationship commitment of hospitality online social network-moderating effects of gender[END_REF] Involvement The degree of psychological identification and emotional ties the receiver has with the product/service. [START_REF] Cui | Empirical Study of the Motivations of E-WOM Spreading on Online feedback System in China[END_REF][START_REF] De Meyer | Product involvement and online word-of-mouth in the south African fast food industry[END_REF] Customer satisfaction A condition that happens as a result of a pleasant consumption fulfilment. [START_REF] Lee | The contrasting attitudes of reviewer and seller in electronic word-of-mouth: a communicative action theory perspective[END_REF][START_REF] Lii | The joint effects of compensation frames and price levels on service recovery of online pricing error[END_REF] Loyalty Overall attachment with a favourable attitude manifested by repeated purchasing. [START_REF] Son | Investigating Factors Affecting Electronic Word-Of-Mouth In The Open Market Context: A Mixed Methods Approach[END_REF][START_REF] Lee | The contrasting attitudes of reviewer and seller in electronic word-of-mouth: a communicative action theory perspective[END_REF] Perceived risk The uncertainty a consumer has in making a purchase decision.

3 [START_REF] Zhang | Analysis of the relationship between involvement and the internet wordof-mouth[END_REF][START_REF] Tirunillai | Does chatter really matter? Dynamics of user-generated content and stock performance[END_REF] Brand loyalty Favourable attitude toward the brand.

2 [START_REF] Rialti | Exploring the antecedents of brand loyalty and electronic word of mouth in social-media-based brand communities: do gender differences matter?[END_REF][START_REF] Yeh | MINI-lovers, maxi-mouths: An investigation of antecedents to eWOM intention among brand community members[END_REF] Trust in web eWOM services

The subjective belief that a party will fulfil their obligations.

4 [START_REF] Horng | A study of active and passive user participation in virtual communities[END_REF][START_REF] Nusair | A theoretical framework of electronic word-ofmouth against the backdrop of social networking websites[END_REF] To determine the strength of the relationships between constructs, weight analysis was conducted by dividing the number of significant relationships by the total number of analysed relationships between studied independent and dependent variables. For example, the relationship between economic incentive and engaging in eWOM communications was examined 13 times and was significant eight times. As a result, the weight significance of a relationship between these two constructs is calculated by dividing 8 by 13, which gives 0.615. If weight is equal to 1 it indicates that the relationship between two constructs is significant across all studies, while a weight equal to 0 shows this relationship is non-significant throughout all examined studies (Jeyaraj et al., 2006; [START_REF] Rana | A meta-analysis of existing research on citizen adoption of e-government[END_REF]. Table 2 presents the weight analysis of all 21 relationships included in this study. Researchers [START_REF] Ismagilova | The Effect of Electronic Word of Mouth Communications on Intention to Buy: A Meta-Analysis[END_REF][START_REF] Jeyaraj | A review of the predictors, linkages, and biases in IT innovation adoption research[END_REF][START_REF] Rana | A meta-analysis of existing research on citizen adoption of e-government[END_REF] classify predictors as follows: a predictor is 'well-utilised' if examined five or more times, otherwise it is considered as 'experimental'; a predictor is a 'best predictor' if its weight is greater or equal to 0.8 and it has been examined more than five times but is a 'promising predictor' if it has been examined less than 5 times and has a weight of 1.

The following predictors of intention to provide eWOM communications fall within the category of best predictor: involvement (examined 8 times, significant 7 times), self-enhancement (examined 13 times, significant 12 times), and trust in web eWOM services (examined 5 times, significant 5 times). All of these predictors were explored five or more times and have a weight equal to or greater than 0.80. Predictors such as information usefulness (examined 4 times, significant 4 times), affective commitment (examined 3 times, significant 3 times), normative commitment (examined 3 times, significant 3 times), loyalty (examined 3 times, significant 3 times), perceived risk (examined 3 times, significant 3 times), opinion seeking (examined 3 times, significant 3 times), and opinion leadership (examined 4 times, significant 4 times) are considered as promising predictors of intention to engage in eWOM communications. Although these relationships were found to be significant across all examined studies, Jeyaraj et al. [START_REF] Jeyaraj | A review of the predictors, linkages, and biases in IT innovation adoption research[END_REF] suggest that these types of experimental variables need more testing to be categorised as best predictors.

Even though none of the studied relationships between predictors and intention to engage in eWOM was found to have a weight of '0', some of the well-utilised inde-pendent constructs are considered to be least effective predictors, such as influence of others (examined 6 times, significant 3 times), tie strength (examined 8 times, significant 4 times), information influence (examined 5 times, significant once), economic incentive (examined 13 times, significant 8 times), altruism (examined 9 times, significant 5 times), and customer satisfaction (examined 9 times, significant 5 times). It is proposed by Jeyaraj et al. [START_REF] Jeyaraj | A review of the predictors, linkages, and biases in IT innovation adoption research[END_REF] that justification for continuing to examine such predictors should be convincing. Nevertheless, it may be premature to exclude such predictors given that eWOM providing behaviour research is still emerging as far as the empirical aspects and solid theoretical foundations of this research are concerned. Out of the total 21 examined relationships only nine were found to be studied five or more times (influence of others, tie strength, information influence, economic incentive, altruism, involvement, self-enhancement, customer satisfaction, and trust in web eWOM services), which proposes that eWOM research is still not that well developed. Moreover, some researchers propose that weight analysis may not be a sufficient reason to exclude any variables from further analysis [START_REF] Rana | A meta-analysis of existing research on citizen adoption of e-government[END_REF]. None of the predictors was found to be the worst predictors of intention to engage in eWOM communications.

Discussion

Taking into account the increasing number of studies on eWOM providing behaviour, it is important to discuss and analyse their collective findings. Figure 1 presents the diagrammatic representation of the factors affecting eWOM providing behaviour with their corresponding weight based on the results of weight analysis. The findings suggest the best predictors such as involvement, self-enhancement, and trust in web eWOM services should be included in eWOM research. Promising predictors such as should be included in future empirical research to evaluate their overall performance.

Conclusion and limitations

The aim of this research was to examine factors affecting eWOM providing behaviour by conducting weight analysis of existing research findings. The weight analysis was performed by identifying a number of significant and non-significant relationships between studied variables.

The current study provides some implications for researchers and practitioners. This research provided a framework for future research identifying factors affecting eWOM providing behaviour. Scholars can use the results of this study when making decisions regarding the inclusion of factors in their research. Practitioners can pay more attention to the best predictors-involvement, self-enhancement, and trust in web eWOM services

The current research has a number of limitations. First, this study only conducted weight analysis without performing meta-analysis which could strengthen those findings of weight analysis and evaluate the significance of the studies relationships [START_REF] Dwivedi | Re-examining the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT): Towards a revised theoretical model[END_REF].

It is advised that future research performs meta-analysis on factors affecting eWOM providing behaviour. Second, this study only used the Scopus database for the collection of study. This can affect the number of research outputs available for weight analysis, the coverage and representativity of the sample considered in the analysis. Thus, future research should employ other available datasets (e.g. web of science, Google Scholar, EBSCO).

Fig. 1 .

 1 Fig. 1. Factors affective eWOM providing behaviour Note: ---> experimental predictors;  well-utilised predictors.

Table 2 .

 2 Results of weight analysis

	Independent	Number	Number	Total	Weight
	variable	of signifi-	of non-	number of
			cant rela-	significant	relation-
			tionships	relation-	ships
				ships
	Satisfaction	in	4	0	4	1.000
	helping	other
	customers
	Opinion seeking	3	0	3	1.000
	Opinion leader-	4	0	4	1.000
	ship
	Information use-	4	0	4	1.000
	fulness
	Affective	com-	3	0	3	1.000
	mitment
	Normative com-	3	0	3	1.000
	mitment

Note: Dependent variable is eWOM providing behavior


Eunice Yeboah

Richard Boateng

Acheampong Owusu
email: aowusu@ug.edu.gh

Eric Afful-Dadzie

Joshua Ofori-Amanfo

Assessing the Role of Trust in Merchant Adoption of Mobile Payments in Ghana

Keywords: Merchants, Adoption, M-payments, Trust, Ghana

Encouraged by the crucial need to understand merchant adoption of mobile payment, this study explores the role trust play in the adoption of mobile payment by merchant and the enablers for merchant's trust in mobile payment systems. This was done by Conceptualising the characteristics of the service provider and technology characteristics as the two dimensions that could influence merchant adoption of mobile payments. The study was done through the lenses of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Trust-Theoretic Model and adopted a qualitative approach where two merchants were selected from the health sector. The findings demonstrate that the role of merchant trust is very critical for adoption due to m-payment technology and security risk. Hence, sufficient trust-building structures in mobile payment space are essential for the adoption of mobile payment by merchants. Moreover, the findings indicate mobile service provider characteristics and the mobile technology characteristics are both imperative toward building trust in mobile payment systems for merchants' adoption. The study also found that the trust of both technology and service provider has a far more critical influence on merchants' adoption of mobile payments than perceived usefulness or ease of use. The study, therefore, recommends that service providers should consider the opportunity to nurture merchant trust because merchant trust acts as a fundamental enabler for the adoption of mobile payments. Other implications are also discussed

Introduction

Mobile technology evolution and the extensive diffusion of mobile phones in per-forming several functions and tasks, has led to the phenomenal growth in the ownership of mobile phones globally. Notable among these everyday tasks is the use of mobile phones in making payments for goods and services without the need for cash or participation of banking institutions (Liébana-Cabanillas & Lara-Rubio, 2017; [START_REF] Dahlberg | A critical review of mobile payment research[END_REF]Chandra, Srivastav& Theng, 2010). This rising interest in mobile payment usage from the consumer to the merchants has become a strategic tool that facilitates positive business outcomes [START_REF] Congdon | What's in Your Wallet: Addressing the Regulatory Grey Area Surrounding Mobile Payments[END_REF]. Further, this innovative payment solution is considered a bedrock for competitive advantage, productivity, and growth, providing a way for businesses to achieve efficiency [START_REF] Hsiao | Mobile payment services as a facilitator of value co-creation: A conceptual framework[END_REF]. The high penetration of mobile payments within society, its accessibility and ease of use has led to experts classifying mobile payments as the potential payment of choice (Liébana-Cabanillas & Lara-Rubio,2017;[START_REF] Liébana Cabanillas | Time for a Different Perspective: A Preliminary Investigation of Barriers of Merchants' Adoption of Mobile Payments[END_REF]. This makes mobile payments deployment relevant to the growth and development of businesses across the world [START_REF] Oliveira | Mobile payment: Understanding the determinants of customer adoption and intention to recommend the technology[END_REF]. More importantly in developing countries, the mobile payment revolution is transforming households and businesses by providing a business solution to small and medium-sized businesses as well as mobile phone-related financial services to the underserved population, and help developing economies leapfrog poor non-existing payment infrastructure [START_REF] Asongu | Mobile phones, institutional quality and entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa[END_REF]. Arguably, it is fascinating to observe that earlier studies on mobile payment have not fully explored the various factors that influence the behavioural intention of merchants to adopt mobile payment technology [START_REF] Liébana Cabanillas | Time for a Different Perspective: A Preliminary Investigation of Barriers of Merchants' Adoption of Mobile Payments[END_REF][START_REF] Dahlberg | A critical review of mobile payment research[END_REF]. Current studies on mobile payments have mostly explored technology and consumer adoption especially their implementation [START_REF] Miao | Mobile payments in Japan, South Korea and China: Crossborder convergence or divergence of business models?[END_REF][START_REF] Madan | Behavioural intention to adopt mobile wallet: a developing country perspective[END_REF]. While consumer adoption studies are important in understanding mobile payments systems, researchers are of the view that an investigation of consumer adoption in isolation will not provide a full understanding of mobile payments [START_REF] Dahlberg | A critical review of mobile payment research[END_REF].

Trust, which is an essential adoption enabler in different IS situations, has not been adequately looked at in the environment of merchant adoption of mobile payment. However, mobile payments, transactions can occur among unknown entities, since mobile payments are regarded as a type of an online transaction completed over a mobile network and an accepted progression from electronic payment systems. This makes trust a significant facilitator for the merchant adoption of mobile payment [START_REF] Rouibah | The effects of perceived enjoyment and perceived risks on trust formation and intentions to use online payment systems: New perspectives from an Arab country[END_REF]. Therefore, this study seeks to understand the merchant adoption of m-payment systems and explore the trust-theoretic perspective to examine the enablers of merchant trust in mobile payment systems [START_REF] Mallat | Exploring consumer adoption of mobile payments -A qualitative study[END_REF]. The questions underpinning the study are: what is the enabler of merchant trust and what is the role of merchant trust in m-payment adoption. The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: The next section reviews the literature on mobile payments and briefly discusses the theoretical underpinnings. The third section presents the conceptual framework guiding the study; the section that follows details the methodology employed. Subsequently, the findings are analysed, and discussions of the findings presented. Finally, the paper concludes with specific contributions and directions for future research.

2

Literature Review

Merchant Adoption of M-payment Systems

The most critical step for technology acceptance and success in technological innovations such as mobile payments is for the intended users to take the initially vital step of adoption. The vibrant nature of evolving technologies and the dynamic circumstances calls for the basic question in adoption "what factors affect the intended user to adopt various technologies?" Because research on IT innovation adoption is extensive, this fundamental question is examined from various dimensions such as technological, and security features, individual adopters, organisations and environment [START_REF] Miao | Mobile payments in Japan, South Korea and China: Crossborder convergence or divergence of business models?[END_REF][START_REF] Dahlberg | A critical review of mobile payment research[END_REF][START_REF] Madan | Behavioural intention to adopt mobile wallet: a developing country perspective[END_REF]. Generally, scholars have used different theories to explain the adoption of innovation in technology. The study used literature on "trust" in combination with the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to establish a trust-theoretic model for payment adoption.TAM has been extensively used in studying IS adoption behavior [START_REF] Hsiao | Mobile payment services as a facilitator of value co-creation: A conceptual framework[END_REF][START_REF] Upadhyay | Analyzing user perspective on the factors affecting use intention of mobile based transfer payment[END_REF][START_REF] Merhi | Towards a framework for online game adoption[END_REF][START_REF] Shanko | Mobile healthcare services adoption. International[END_REF]. The theory stipulates that individual's adoption of an innovation in an information system is dependent on the intention of the individual to use the system and an extent to which a customer accept that adopting an innovation will improve his effectiveness and job performance [START_REF] Davis | User acceptance of information technology: system characteristics, user perceptions and behavioral impacts[END_REF]; Liébana-Cabanillas, Ramos de Luna &Montoro-Ríos, 2017).

Generally, using TAM is appealing in the sense that it is empirically robust, with excellent measurement qualities and dependable instruments [START_REF] Davis | User acceptance of information technology: system characteristics, user perceptions and behavioral impacts[END_REF][START_REF] Aboobucker | What obstruct customer acceptance of internet banking? Security and Privacy, risk, trust and website usability and the role of moderators[END_REF]. Several innovation studies have validated the instructive supremacy of TAM for technology acceptance which is proven for multiple IS types [START_REF] Davis | User acceptance of information technology: system characteristics, user perceptions and behavioral impacts[END_REF][START_REF] Davis | User acceptance of computer technology: a comparison of two theoretical models[END_REF]. The two key belief concepts of PU and PEOU in the theory might not sufficiently explicate the effect of additional usage issues that can influence individual intention to adopt [START_REF] Davis | User acceptance of information technology: system characteristics, user perceptions and behavioral impacts[END_REF][START_REF] Moon | Extending the Tam for a world-wide-web context[END_REF]. However, limited studies have examined "trust" as an additional concept. Nevertheless, trust is a fundamental concern in the mobile payment context due to the apprehensions associated with the mobile service provider and the environmental uncertainties associated with mobile technology. [START_REF] Chandra | Evaluating the role of trust in consumer adoption of mobile payment systems: An empirical analysis[END_REF] examined trust in consumer adoption of mobile payment and the role of trust by contextualising the trust antecedents to the mpayment situation proposing a trust-theoretic m-payment adoption model. Drawing from [START_REF] Chandra | Evaluating the role of trust in consumer adoption of mobile payment systems: An empirical analysis[END_REF], the study contextualises the antecedents of trust in mobile payment situation to merchant adoption based on the trust-theoretic m-payment adoption model. Merchant Trust in Mobile Payments. The concept of trust has attracted a considerable amount of research due to its significant role in information systems research, especially in the e-commerce environment. Mobile payments, which are a kind of online transaction, involve virtuality, anonymity and temporal and spatial separation, which can lead to considerable uncertainty and risk. Therefore, trust is very relevant for mobile payment technology adoption. According to [START_REF] Zhou | An empirical examination of continuance intention of mobile payment services[END_REF] merchants usually have concerns about security when it comes to the use of mobile payment. Nevertheless, merchants consider trust in payment services providers and the security of mobile payment solutions as necessary criteria for the adoption of mobile payment. Therefore, it is necessary to integrate trust in examining the merchant adoption of mobile payments (Zhou,2013). Therefore, in the mobile payment environment, the two enablers of merchant trust consist of trust in provider of mobile service as well as trust in technologyenhanced by characteristics of the service provider and characteristics of the mobile technology [START_REF] Chandra | Evaluating the role of trust in consumer adoption of mobile payment systems: An empirical analysis[END_REF][START_REF] Broutsou | Online trust: the influence of perceived company's reputation on consumers' trust and the effects of trust on intention for online transactions[END_REF].

2.2

Mobile Service Provider (MSP) Characteristic Always, there is an affiliation between the mobile payment service provider characteristics and merchant trust as shown in figure 1. This can be likened to the concept of the "halo effect. "The concept of the halo effect is based on the explanation that an indi-vidual's perception or views about a product or a person is based on previous experiences and the sort of interpretation which leads to cognitive bias. For instance, one can explain that Apple's other products are successful and people have confidence in it, due to the positive influence and how successful iPod was [START_REF] Chong | The role of social media in enhancing guanxi and perceived effectiveness of E-commerce institutional mechanisms in online marketplace[END_REF][START_REF] Wilcox | The iPhone Halo Effect[END_REF]. Thus, merchant perceptions on MSP as fair and honest translates to beliefs and trust for the mobile payment system controlled by the MSP. Research demonstrates that based on the halo effect, merchant trust has a positive relationship with the perceived reputation of the provider of the service, which leads to trusting beliefs in the merchant. Therefore Proposition 1: The reputation of mobile service providers influences the level of trust the merchant has in mobile payments.

Similarly, opportunism is evident when implied and obvious possibilities around pre-determined conduct are fraudulently abused [START_REF] Chong | The role of social media in enhancing guanxi and perceived effectiveness of E-commerce institutional mechanisms in online marketplace[END_REF][START_REF] John | An empirical investigation of some antecedents of opportunism in a marketing channel[END_REF]. Regarding mobile payment transactions, the service provider plays a vital role, provider opportunism can be inferred as dishonest happenings such as altering information, revealing personal customer data, or deliberately unfulfilling responsibilities and promises. Therefore, merchant trust for the m-payment transaction will reduce when there is perceived opportunism. [START_REF] Chong | The role of social media in enhancing guanxi and perceived effectiveness of E-commerce institutional mechanisms in online marketplace[END_REF]Hua, Angsana, & Tan, 2013).

Thus, we propose that Proposition 2: The level of merchant trust in mobile payment systems will be reduced when there is perceived opportunism.

2.3

Mobile Technology Characteristics Confidentiality and Safety concerns hamper merchant adoption of an online and wireless channel for a commercial transaction [START_REF] Bhuvana | A Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Approach for Mobile Banking Adoption-A Strategy for Achieving Financial Inclusion[END_REF]. Because of the shared domain of online information which merchants may be reluctant to adopt until they are convinced of self-assurance in the safety feature of the technology [START_REF] Osakwe | Facilitating mCommerce growth in Nigeria through mMoney usage: A preliminary analysis[END_REF]. In the mobile payment environment, merchants have to entrust all their account details, to MSPs and other players in the mobile payment context. Owing to the merchant's lack of control and uncertainties associated with mobile payment transactions makes merchants perceive environmental risks [START_REF] Bhuvana | A Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Approach for Mobile Banking Adoption-A Strategy for Achieving Financial Inclusion[END_REF][START_REF] Osakwe | Facilitating mCommerce growth in Nigeria through mMoney usage: A preliminary analysis[END_REF]. So, we propose that Proposition 3: The level of merchant trust in mobile payment systems are affected by Perceived environmental risk.

Nevertheless, the threat posed by mobile payment systems in comparison to traditional payment methods, stern from the technological uncertainties using the open technological infrastructure for transactions [START_REF] Bhuvana | A Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Approach for Mobile Banking Adoption-A Strategy for Achieving Financial Inclusion[END_REF]. Building suitable legal and technological safeguards can be accomplished through the development of institutional-based trust through technical procedures such as encryption of data and additional legal actions that avert confidentiality and monetary losses as a means of structural assurance for the mobile environment [START_REF] Mcknight | Developing and validating trust measures for e-commerce: An integrative typology[END_REF].In other words, if a merchant perceived a very useful structural assurance, it will increase the level of merchant trust in mobile payment systems. [START_REF] Zhou | An empirical examination of continuance intention of mobile payment services[END_REF] and [START_REF] Dahlberg | A critical review of mobile payment research[END_REF] have demonstrated that reducing the risk associated with the transaction would probably lead to the increasing adopting of mobile payments as a mode of transaction. Hence, we propose that Proposition 4: The level of merchant trust in the mobile payment system is positively influenced by perceived structural assurance.

2.4

Adoption Intention of Mobile Payment Based on Merchant Trust Studies have confirmed that trust is dependent on the agency of an IT to perform a definite task (Lizcano, Whaite & Aliawarneh, 2019;Teo et al., 2009). Regarding the mobile payment scenario, the skill is considered as the capability credence, which enables the merchants to trust that the mobile payment is suitable in attaining the anticipated objective and hence execute the intended level of performance. [START_REF] Broutsou | Online trust: the influence of perceived company's reputation on consumers' trust and the effects of trust on intention for online transactions[END_REF][START_REF] Pavlou | Consumer Acceptance of Electronic Commerce-Integrating Trust and Risk with the Technology Acceptance Model[END_REF]. Similarly, in different online settings, individual trust is an essential element of perceived usefulness in mobile payment environment due to the uncertainties involved in such transactions and the impersonal nature of the mobile internet environment. Hence, we propose that Proposition 5: Perceived usefulness will positively in-fluence merchant trust in mobile payment systems.

However, if there is low merchant trust in the system, it will drive the merchant to be anxious with the transactional routines (Teo et al., 2009). Which can lead to individual spending more time and effort in comprehending the system leading to systems usage challenge [START_REF] Pavlou | Consumer Acceptance of Electronic Commerce-Integrating Trust and Risk with the Technology Acceptance Model[END_REF]Moqbel & Bartelt, 2016). Merchant trust in m-payment systems is related to perceived ease of use of m payment systems. As a result, we propose that Proposition 6: the extent of merchant trust in m-payment systems is related to perceived ease of use. Proposition 7: Merchant trust in m payment systems will positively influence merchant adoption of mobile payment.

According to [START_REF] Yang | Mobile payment services adoption across time: An empirical study of the effects of behavioral beliefs, social influences, and personal traits[END_REF], the TRA indicates that 'an individual's intention to adopt an IS innovation is influenced by attitude and subjective norms, which are shaped by behavioral and normative beliefs of an individual. Trust then becomes an essential behavioral belief that generates positive attitudes to influence intention to adopt mobile payment systems, when trust is positive it is likely that merchants will likely have an intention to adopt the mobile payment system. Henceforth, merchants will adopt mpayment systems that are easy to use and will be perceived as useful. There are several benefits of M-payment systems to merchants irrespective of place and time, self-regulating transactions, which leads to effective payment transactions to the merchant. Thus, leading to an expectation that because merchant regards the mobile payment as a useful tool in achieving their purpose, they will adopt. Therefore, we propose that Proposition 8: Merchant adoption of mobile payment is positively influenced by Perceived ease of use. Proposition 9: Perceived usefulness of the m-payment systems is connected to merchant adoption of m-payment systems. Perceived Structural Assurance Perceived Ease of Use

Methodology

The study adopted an exploratory approach to help bring a deeper understanding of the issues under study [START_REF] Saunders | Research Methods for Business Students[END_REF]. As such, a case study was used as the research method. A case study is considered suitable for this study grounded on [START_REF] Yin | Case study research, design and methods[END_REF] assertion of a case study where "why and how "questions are asked. In addition, case studies help in areas where the researcher does not have much control over the situation or where the issues under investigation are new and there is not much theory to explain issues adequately [START_REF] Yin | Case study research, design and methods[END_REF]. Empirical research on merchant adoption of mobile payments is spiral, in this case, the phenomenon is new and needs an in-depth understanding from the perspective of a developing country experience. The descriptive case study approach was used to enable theory to guide the data collection process [START_REF] Yin | Case study research, design and methods[END_REF]; as a result, the trust-theoretic stance and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) were reviewed as the theory underpinning the case study design [START_REF] Chandra | Evaluating the role of trust in consumer adoption of mobile payment systems: An empirical analysis[END_REF]. Face to face interview was used as a data collection method. The interview guide consisted of both open and close-ended questions. According to [START_REF] Walsham | Interpreting information systems in organizations[END_REF] and [START_REF] Yin | Case study research, design and methods[END_REF] case study research has no universally accepted number of cases. It can be a single case or multiple cases. This research was based on a case study of two merchants from the service sector in the health industries. The case was strategically selected to enhance its external validity but not based on statistical consideration. The case was analyzed using Miles and Huberman's (2013) approach to data analysis.

Results and Discussion of Findings

Mobile Service Provider Characteristics

From the case finding it was established that the respondents selected the current service provider because of its brand reputation and the requisite credibility and infrastructure to deliver a reputable mobile payment service to merchants. The issue of mobile service providers' reputation was an essential trust-building mechanism in merchant adoption of mobile payment.

"It is an international company with a lot of reputation. They are credible to provide payment services, besides there is no known scandal against the service provider for all the years they have been operating the mobile money platform". The CEO of a pharmaceutical retail shop "My service provider, is listed on the Ghana stock exchange which makes them credible and for the period I have worked with them their services have not failed so far, it has worked well".:

Director of operations in a private health facility. These findings suggest that merchants depend on the brand name and the reputation of the service provider as risk-mitigating factors in adopting mobile payment for their business. The interviewees believe that the risk is mitigated due to the levels of author-ization that the provider has in place to ensure that the rightful persons are either authorizing or originating the transaction or the exact person receiving the payment. For every transaction, you receive a message to confirm the transaction and this serves as a record to trace your transaction. Again, the respondents believe that, because there is a regulator who regulates and monitors the operations of a service provider, it will push them to do the right thing.

"I believe people do what is inspected not what is expected. We have not experienced a situation where the service provider has used our information for their selfish interest. This is because all transaction comes with notification messages to confirm the transaction".

As mention by the Operations director. These findings suggest merchants trust that, service providers have the ability and benevolence needed to provide the necessary service experience. This is because of their technological infrastructure and the legal structures that bind their operations. The merchants believe that their service providers will work within a regulated legal framework so they can be trusted to do the right things. However, further, exploring the data retrieved from the merchants revealed that they are suspicious their service providers can behave opportunistically. This is in relation to merchant information and does not trust that their information could be safe with the service provider, because it is possible that service providers could give out personal information to the third party.

As intimated by the CEO "Sometimes you receive unsolicited information from the third party and you wonder how and where they get the information, which makes you think that, your service provider may have given merchant information to a third party".

This makes merchants unsure of the security of their information with the service provider, which they think could be detrimental to the business when given to your competitor. These findings suggest that the extent of merchant trust in mobile payment is influenced by the service provider reputation, however, the merchant perception of mobile service providers opportunism can reduce the level of merchant trust in M payment. These finding support propositions 1 and 2 in the model. These findings confirm earlier findings by [START_REF] Chandra | Evaluating the role of trust in consumer adoption of mobile payment systems: An empirical analysis[END_REF] and [START_REF] Xin | Exploring the influence of trust on mobile payment adoption[END_REF] on how features of the service provider and mobile payment vendor characteristics can affect trust in mobile payment adoption.

Mobile Technology Characteristics

On findings pertaining to mobile technology characteristics, it was discovered from the case findings that, the inherent technological risk associated with mobile payments has an influence on the adoption intention of merchants. According to the respondent, using mobile payment as a merchant comes with a huge risk because mobile payment operates in a wireless environment, people can steal information from the provider.

"Since it is an IT platform someone can hack into the system and delete or modify information for reasons best known to them, this makes it risky but because of its advantages it is worth the risk." As intimated by the CEO.

This assertion by merchants portrays mobile payment as potentially having significant technological risk. As such, merchants are skeptical about their information with the service provider because mobile payment is a wireless network and is susceptible to hacker attacks and intruders, which can affect transactional security. Merchants were particularly concerned about privacy, security, fraud, payment transaction errors and potential loss of cash. As a result, they did not always feel very confident in using the mobile payment for their transactions. The merchants interviewed think that mobile payment can be trusted but the risk associated with it, impacts negatively on their trust and influence their attitude which they consider a barrier to adoption of mobile payment.

"We get all kind of calls supposedly coming from providers but it turns out to be intruders who are able to generate codes, that should be coming from service providers which are a little bit suspicious if merchant information ends up with third parties" As alluded by the operations director "I think the encryptions back to back are not strong enough because fraudsters are able to wipe people's wallet without knowing the merchant code. I don't feel safe with the telecom company because they do not understand the banking rudiment; I will feel safe if these services are run by the banks" a statement by the operations Director

This finding is similar to earlier findings on the relationship between risk and trust (see [START_REF] Pavlou | Consumer Acceptance of Electronic Commerce-Integrating Trust and Risk with the Technology Acceptance Model[END_REF][START_REF] Osakwe | Facilitating mCommerce growth in Nigeria through mMoney usage: A preliminary analysis[END_REF][START_REF] Bhuvana | A Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Approach for Mobile Banking Adoption-A Strategy for Achieving Financial Inclusion[END_REF]. These findings support proposition 3 in the model. Additionally, the findings from the case study demonstrate that merchants are able to build confidence and sufficient trust in mobile payment systems because of structural assurance such as encryption, authentication and third-party certifications by their service providers. For example, the use of message authentication code, assures merchants and their clients that information is not tampered during transferring via networks. This ensures confidentiality, anonymity, and integrity (see Yang & Lin, 2016;[START_REF] Xin | Exploring the influence of trust on mobile payment adoption[END_REF]. This, to a large extent, ensures the safety of the system. "I know that when I initiate a transaction nobody will be able to intercept it midway has and it gets to its destination because there is encryption for a transaction" as intimated by the CEO.

The efficient application of these technical controls helps build trust mechanisms for mobile payment systems which improve merchants' trust and confidence in mobile payment adoption intention. Further, the case findings show that proof of transactions, recipient, and assurance of user's identity helps to secure mobile payment environment without fear of compromise. This finding is also supported by our 4th proposition which states that the level of merchant trust in mobile payment systems is influenced by perceived structural assurance.

Perceived Usefulness

It was identified from the case findings that merchants interviewed use the payment platform to pay their suppliers and receive payment from their clients. According to them, the companies strategically adopted mobile payment to improve the effectiveness of their business and to meet their customers' needs profitably. More importantly, the findings suggest that because the payment system is convenient and useful the merchants are prepared to ignore the risk associated with the transaction.

"The use of mobile payment has helped reduced outstanding debts because clients are able to fall on mobile payment at any time". "Since it is an IT platform someone can hack into the system and delete or modify information for reasons best known; to them, this makes it risky but because of its advantages it is worth the risk." Both respondents confirmed their usefulness.

This finding is similar to what [START_REF] Yang | Mobile payment services adoption across time: An empirical study of the effects of behavioral beliefs, social influences, and personal traits[END_REF] found that in online payment, uncertainty risk is more or less ignored by consumers pursuing convenience and usefulness of online payment. This finding supports proposition 9 which that perceived usefulness of mobile payments is associated with merchant adoption. However, this same finding points to the fact that merchant trust of mobile payment systems does not depend on perceived usefulness which means that the proposition 7 is not supported because it states that merchants trust in mobile payment systems will influence merchant adoption but the findings indicate that adoption of mobile payment does not necessarily depend on trust because trust may not signify usefulness.

Perceived ease of Use

Finally, findings from the case study suggest that the functionality of the mobile payment interface by service providers through a mobile device is relatively simple and easy to navigate. They are of the view that using mobile payments for their transactions on a mobile device does not require much. The ease with which they are able to operate and understand the procedures produces a lot of confidence and builds trust that they have control of their transactions. This finding is consistent with [START_REF] Lu | Dynamics between the trust transfer process and intention to use mobile payment services: A cross-environment perspective[END_REF]. It was also observed through the case findings that merchants primarily use mobile payments to receive payments and to pay for their bills. It was evident that the level of education of merchants interviewed played a significant role in enhancing their technological literacy of mobile payment functions. Both respondents had a post-graduate degree and their staff a minimum of diploma degree. " I am knowledgeable in all forms of electronic payment, be it internet or mobile hence mobile payment interface is easy" "We have dedicated staff who are knowledgeable in technology and are put in charge to do the mobile transactions" As commented by the merchants This finding supports propositions 6 and 8 which indicates that the level of merchant trust in mobile payment systems has a positive influence on perceived ease of use and that merchant adoption of mobile payment is positively influenced by perceived ease of use.

Conclusion and Recommendation

The study set out to explore the role of trust in merchant adoption of m-payment systems as well as the enablers for merchant's trust in mobile payment systems through the conceptualization of the service provider and the technology characteristics as the two dimensions that could influence merchant adoption of mobile payments. Arguably, the role of merchant trust is very significant for adoption, because of the technological risk and lack of merchant control [START_REF] Yang | Mobile payment services adoption across time: An empirical study of the effects of behavioral beliefs, social influences, and personal traits[END_REF][START_REF] Xin | Exploring the influence of trust on mobile payment adoption[END_REF]. Hence, a sufficient trust-building mechanism is essential for merchants to adopt mobile payment. Moreover, the characteristics of the service provider of mobile payment and the mobile technology features are both imperative to build trust in mobile payment systems for merchants' adoption. The study also found that the trust of both technology and service provider has a far more critical influence on merchants' adoption of mobile payments than perceived usefulness or ease of use.

Implications of the Study

Implication for theory. This study contributes to the information system literature, by establishing a relationship between merchant trust and adoption intention because merchant's acceptance and use of mobile payments is growing in recent times. Hence it is imperative to appreciate the effect of trust and how service providers can implement these technologies. These new theoretical insights will help researchers to better understand merchants trust-related antecedents and their influence on technology adoption in the context of merchant adoption of mobile payments. Implication for Practice. Service providers should consider the opportunity to nurture and build merchant trust because merchant trust acts as a fundamental enabler for the adoption of mobile payments.

Limitation of the Study

The study has some limitations, it concentrated on a few variables and only done in the context of Ghana and targeted merchants who have already adopted mobile payment. Future research could compare merchants who have not yet adopted the technology with those who have adopted in context with a similar characteristic.

Fig 1 .

 1 Fig 1. Conceptual Framework Source: Adopted from[START_REF] Chandra | Evaluating the role of trust in consumer adoption of mobile payment systems: An empirical analysis[END_REF]


Stanislav Mamonov

The Role of Information Technology in Fintech Innovation: Insights from the New York City Ecosystem

Keywords: fintech, innovation, business model, information technology

Fintech is an active area of innovation and a rapidly growing sector of the economy, yet relatively little is known about how information technology contributes to innovation in fintech. We draw on the business model canvas framework and we examine the role of information technology in the business models of leading fintech startups in the New York City fintech ecosystem. We find that information technology plays a key role across nearly all components of the business models, orchestrating resources and processes to efficiently deliver personalized financial services to customers. Focusing on the IT-enabled value propositions across the fintech startups in our sample, we find that the startups tend to emphasize low-cost offerings that may pose a threat to incumbent business models in financial services.

Introduction

Disruptive innovations are a common concern for established firms [START_REF] Ernst | Who will disrupt the disruptors ?[END_REF]. Disruptive innovations introduce significant changes in the value creation process within established industries by either developing new markets or changing the existing value creation networks [START_REF] Christensen | The innovator's dilemma: When new technologies cause great firms to fail Harvard Business School Press[END_REF]. In many cases, such innovations may initially target the less profitable segments of the market, but evolve into dominant business models within the respective industries [START_REF] Yu | A Reflective Review of Disruptive Innovation Theory[END_REF].

Fintech, defined as design and delivery of financial products and services through technology [START_REF] Leong | Nurturing a FinTech ecosystem: The case of a youth microloan startup in China[END_REF], is one of the most active areas of startup innovation. Forecasts for the global fintech market suggest that global fintech revenues will reach $300 billion by 2023 [START_REF]Fintech Market: Industry Outlook, Size & Forecast 2018-2023[END_REF]. Despite the practical importance of the fintech market there has been relatively little research on how startups leverage technology in this market and how information technology (IT) may contribute to the disruption of traditional business models in financial services.

To address this gap in research, we draw on the business model canvas literature [START_REF] Osterwalder | The Business Model Ontology -A Proposition in a Design Science Approach[END_REF][START_REF] Osterwalder | Business model generation: a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers[END_REF] and we examine the key technology-enabled innovations offered by the leading fintech startups located in New York City. New York City is a global center of finance hosting the headquarters for JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, AIG, and American Express among other financial institutions, offering an ideal ecosystem to support fintech development [START_REF] Bala Subrahmanya | Comparing the Entrepreneurial Ecosystems for Technology Startups in Bangalore and Hyderabad, India[END_REF]. This study is a part of a broader research stream exploring the role of technology in innovation. Here, we seek to address the following research questions: 1) How does IT contribute to innovation in fintech? and 2) What types of IT-enabled innovations are likely to disrupt existing financial services? To address these questions, we focus on the leading startups in the NYC fintech ecosystem based on the funds raised from investors in the past 5 years and we examine how IT contributes to the value creation within each product or service offering. We also evaluate the likely disruptive impact of the IT-enabled innovations.

Our analysis reveals that information technology is deeply interwoven into nearly all components of the fintech startup business models in our sample. IT plays a dual role of serving as the customer facing artifact in service delivery, but it is also a key coordination mechanism that orchestrates all business processes within the respective companies. Focusing on value propositions offered by the fintech startups in our study, we find that the majority emphasizes low-cost alternatives to traditional financial services, thus posing a potential disruption threat to the incumbent firms in the respective markets.

2

Empirical and theoretical background

The role of technology in innovation

The connection between technology and innovation is a rich area of research [START_REF] Chesbrough | Business model innovation: Opportunities and barriers[END_REF][START_REF] Rogers | Elements of diffusion[END_REF][START_REF] Yoo | The tables have turned: How can the information systems field contribute to technology and innovation management research?[END_REF] and a full review of this literature is beyond the scope of the current study. Here, we briefly review the key themes that are relevant to our work.

Information technology is broadly acknowledged as an important element of internal process optimization [START_REF] Mithas | Information technology and firm profitability: Mechanisms and empirical evidence[END_REF][START_REF] Wade | The Formation and value of IT-enabled resources: Antecedents and consequences fo synergistic relationships[END_REF], as well as new product and new service development [START_REF] Mithas | Information technology and firm profitability: Mechanisms and empirical evidence[END_REF]. Whereas much of the earlier work on the impact of IT investments focused on the macro level outcomes, e.g. firm survival and firm revenue [START_REF] Weill | The relationship between investment in information technology and firm performance: A study of the valve manufacturing sector[END_REF], more recent research has shown that the effects of IT go beyond increasing operational efficiencies. Mithas et al. [START_REF] Mithas | Information technology and firm profitability: Mechanisms and empirical evidence[END_REF] have shown the IT investments increase new product and new service introductions, demonstrating that IT investments have a positive effect on innovation within established firms.

Open innovation, i.e. engagement of external parties in the innovation process [START_REF] Chesbrough | Open innovation: The new imperative for creating and profiting from technology[END_REF][START_REF] Gassmann | The future of open innovation[END_REF] has emerged as a dominant theme in the discussions on the role of IT in innovation more recently. Open innovation encompasses both supplier-side as well as customerside innovation. Open source software emerged as a dominant paradigm in supplierdriven innovation [START_REF] Agerfalk | Outsourcing to an unknown workforce: Exploring opensourcing as a global sourcing strategy[END_REF][START_REF] Krogh | Opening up design science: The challenge of designing for reuse and joint development[END_REF]. Value co-creation has similarly emerged as an important area in customer-driven product and service innovation [START_REF] Chen | Theory and Analysis of Company-Sponsored Value Co-Creation[END_REF][START_REF] Gummesson | Theory of value cocreation: a systematic literature review[END_REF]. Several scholars suggested that information technologies fundamentally alter the innovation process and they require novel organizing logics designed to capitalize on the core benefits of digital technologies [START_REF] Henfridsson | Information systems strategizing, organizational subcommunities, and the emergence of a sustainability strategy[END_REF][START_REF] Yoo | The new organizing logic of digital innovation: An agenda for information systems research[END_REF].

Fintech

Although a number of competing definitions of fintech have been proposed, we adopt the following definition in our study. Fintech is defined as design and delivery of financial products and services through technology [START_REF] Leong | Nurturing a FinTech ecosystem: The case of a youth microloan startup in China[END_REF]. Financial services encompass a broad range of services that include payments, wealth management, lending, capital markets and insurance among others [START_REF] Lee | Fintech: Ecosystem, business models, investment decisions, and challenges[END_REF].

An economic analysis of financial services has revealed that despite digitization and adoption of novel technology-supported business services in finance, the industry as a whole has shown little in the way of increasing overall efficiency and the cost of financial intermediation remain stable over time at roughly 2% of GDP [START_REF] Philippon | The FinTech Opportunity[END_REF]. The perceived lack of efficiency in financial services industry has spurred many startups in the fintech domain and their efforts have generally focused on disintermediation and automation [START_REF] Chiu | Fintech and Disruptive Business Models in Financial Products, Intermediation and Markets-Policy Implications for Financial Regulators[END_REF]. Industry surveys suggest that novel fintech offerings may be particularly appealing to young, high-income, high-value customers [START_REF] Ernst | Who will disrupt the disruptors ?[END_REF].

Although the research on fintech is just beginning to emerge, there have been several attempts to develop general taxonomies of fintech innovations. Focusing on the services offered by the companies, Lee and Shin [START_REF] Lee | Fintech: Ecosystem, business models, investment decisions, and challenges[END_REF] suggested that all fintech startups belong to one of the following categories: payments, wealth management, crowdfunding, lending, capital markets and insurance. Focusing on the technical capabilities, Gai et al. [START_REF] Gai | A survey on FinTech[END_REF] proposed that technical innovations in fintech can be characterized as innovations in authentication and control, risk management, data usage, risk detection, and data storage and processing. Examining innovations in the insurance industry, Szopinski et al. [START_REF] Szopinski | Software tools for business model innovation: current state and future challenges[END_REF] suggested that innovations fall into infrastructure, service or network promotion related categories.

Although prior research contains several fintech taxonomies [START_REF] Gai | A survey on FinTech[END_REF][START_REF] Lee | Fintech: Ecosystem, business models, investment decisions, and challenges[END_REF][START_REF] Szopinski | Software tools for business model innovation: current state and future challenges[END_REF], they do not address the question of how information technologies affects fintech business models. In the next section, we discuss the business model canvas framework [START_REF] Amit | Creating value through business model innovation[END_REF][START_REF] Zott | The business model: Recent developments and future research[END_REF] that provides the theoretical foundation for the examination of the role of IT in fintech business model innovation in our study.

Business model canvas and business model disruptions

Business model innovation has been long recognized as an important element of business strategy [START_REF] Amit | Creating value through business model innovation[END_REF][START_REF] Zott | The business model: Recent developments and future research[END_REF]. Business model canvas emerged as a pragmatic framework focused on defining the key components of a business model with the goal of identifying opportunities for business model innovation [START_REF] Osterwalder | The Business Model Ontology -A Proposition in a Design Science Approach[END_REF][START_REF] Osterwalder | Business model generation: a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers[END_REF]. Business model canvas suggests that identification of the 1) key partners, 2) key activities, 3) value proposition, 4) customer relationships, 5) customer segments, 6) key resources and 7) distribution channels can lead to reassessment of the current state and identification of novel options within each of the components that can pave the way to business model innovation.

Disruptive innovation theory emerged from the observation that many dominant firms fell victim to innovations that the firms dismissed at the time of the innovation introduction [START_REF] Christensen | The innovator's dilemma: When new technologies cause great firms to fail Harvard Business School Press[END_REF]. For example, IBM famously dismissed the personal computer market opportunity early on [START_REF] Hartigh | Platform control during battles for market dominance: The case of Apple versus IBM in the early personal computer industry[END_REF], and the firm later had to play catchup to the early movers in the market. Christensen's theory of disruptive innovation [START_REF] Christensen | The innovator's dilemma: When new technologies cause great firms to fail Harvard Business School Press[END_REF] highlights the fact that ignoring innovative offerings in emergent markets often makes economic sense to the incumbent firms, thus highlighting a fundamental impediment to innovation within the incumbent firms.

The focus of the current study is on understanding how fintech startups leverage IT to produce innovations within the components of the business models and to understand when such innovations may produce disruptions in the incumbent business models. In the next section, we discuss the methodology in our study.

Methodology

Methodologically, we take on a pragmatic stance that emphasizes the connection to the real world [START_REF] Goldkuhl | Pragmatism vs interpretivism in qualitative information systems research[END_REF]. We follow a multi-case methodology [START_REF] Eisenhardt | Theory building from cases: Opportunities and challenges[END_REF] to assess and contrast observations across a theoretically based [START_REF] Glasser | Theoretical Sampling[END_REF] sample of fintech startups.

Sample selection

We relied on Crunchbase [START_REF] Crunchbase | Crunchbase[END_REF] to identify fintech startups headquartered in New York City. Crunchbase collates information on over 5000 startups across the globe in different sectors of the economy. We filtered Crunchbase listings for "fintech" as the category and "New York" as the headquarters location. We further limited our search to active startups that were founded in the period 2014-2019.

We obtained a list of fintech startups located in New York that includes 224 companies. Many of the startups on the list are in the early stages of development. 95% of the startups had received only a single round of financing and therefore the long-term prospects of these companies are less certain [START_REF]Venture Capital Funnel Shows Odds Of Becoming A Unicorn Are About 1%[END_REF]. Historical trends suggest that less than 12% of VC investments lead to successful exits [START_REF] Giot | IPOs, trade sales and liquidations: Modelling venture capital exits using survival analysis[END_REF]. Because the focus of our analysis is on the effects of IT on business model innovation in fintech, we decided to focus our analysis on the startups that progressed to the second round of raising funding (typically a series B) and raised at least $20 million dollars in total funding. The resultant list contains ten companies that collectively raised over $1.1 billion.

Analytical methodology

In our analysis on the role of technology in innovation we focused the role of technology in addressing the key components of the business model canvas. We examine the following questions within the analysis of each component [START_REF] Osterwalder | The Business Model Ontology -A Proposition in a Design Science Approach[END_REF][START_REF] Osterwalder | Business model generation: a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers[END_REF]:

Value proposition

What is the role of IT in the value proposition of each company? Customer segments and distribution channels

Key partners

How is IT involved in managing relationships with key partners? Revenue stream What are the sources of revenue for the company?

To assess the key value proposition, customer segments and distribution channels, key activities, resources, partners and revenue streams, we reviewed the respective company web sites and news announcements. We used NVivo version 12 software to code the collected documents for the components of the business canvas model as well as the role of IT in the respective components.

Results

In our sample, we have startups offering a broad spectrum of fintech products and services that offer very different value propositions. Six of ten startups (60%) in our sample are B2C companies offering insurance brokerage, equity trading, retirement planning, online banking, and real estate investment opportunities. One other startup offers consumer purchase financing, but it offers its service via partnerships with retailers, thus operating on a B2B/B2C model. Another startup developed a peer-to-peer (P2P) money transfer services for consumers, but it sells its service to financial institutions that integrate the offering within their digital banking services. This is also an example of hybrid B2B/B2C business model. We find only one pure B2B startup in our sample that offers fraud prevention services to businesses.

The ten startups in our sample have collectively raised $1.175 billion. The mean amount of funding raised is $117.5 million and the median is $97.4 million. Betterment, an online retirement planning service, has raised $275 million putting it in the lead in terms of total fundraising. Venmo, a P2P payment service, raised only $26.2 million.

Focusing on the whether the startup offerings represent low-cost alternatives to existing services or entirely new offerings, we find that nine of ten startups (90%) in our sample are targeting lower price points in the respective markets, whereas only one startup -Cadre -is offering novel services. Cadre is a real estate investment platform that emerged in the wake of the JOBS Act passage that reduced regulator requirements in startup financing reporting and enabled equity crowdfunding as a practice [START_REF] Mamonov | Success factors in Title III equity crowdfunding in the United States[END_REF]. The company is leveraging the regulatory changes to provide investors with novel investment opportunities that were previously only available to accredited investors [START_REF] Mamonov | Success factors in Title III equity crowdfunding in the United States[END_REF]. The results are summarized in Table 1 below.

L-low cost focus, N -new market focus

In the next step of the analysis, we examined the role of IT in 1) managing relationships with different customer segments, 2) management of distribution channels, 3) support key activities associated with value delivery, 4) provisioning and managing key resources required for product/service delivery, 5) management of relationships with key partners. We also evaluated the key revenue streams for each startup.

IT in customer segmentation and service delivery

Eight of ten startups in our sample offer online B2C services. It is not surprising then to find that IT plays a key role in service delivery and customer segmentation. IT systems, commonly a combination of web and mobile applications as well as backend services, are the key artifacts that customers interact with. Customer facing systems also facilitate customer segmentation, i.e. identification of customer groups with distinct needs. For example, PolicyGenius assists its customers in finding and evaluating available insurance policies and associated costs in different categories of insurance: home, life, auto, etc. The segmentation based on the insurance needs is seamlessly implemented on the site. Different customer segments navigate the evaluation paths setup to fit the specific insurance needs.

IT function in key activities associated with service delivery

Information technology uniformly plays a key role in automating the key business processes within each startup. For example, the trading platform Stash automates account setup for its customers and it supports efficient workflow on the backend associated with anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) regulations. We find similar patterns of front-facing automation and standardization of back-office operations across other B2C platforms in our sample.

The firms operating on the hybrid B2B/B2C models wherein the startups are providing financial services to individual consumers, but service delivery requires integration with business partners, solve the increasing channel complexity with encapsulation of the service-related activities in the IT-systems that are integrated with business partners' systems. Bread, for example, integrates with online retailers to offer purchase financing for consumers. Venmo integrates with financial institutions and provides seamless support for financial transfers among bank account holders who may not even be aware of Venmo's role in the process.

IT in coordination/development of key resources

Focusing on the role of technology in the development and coordination of key resources, we find that the IT systems themselves become the singular most important resource for each of the startups in our dataset. The IT systems encompass the customerinterfacing digital artifacts for B2C firms. The IT systems also encapsulate the business logic that underpins the operations of all firms in our sample.

IT in management of partner relationships

We find that several of the startups in our sample are critically dependent on their partners for the key resources required for service delivery. For example, an online only bank N26 is critically dependent on its partnership with Mastercard that enables N26 to offer its customers an ATM card that operates across the Mastercard's Maestro platform. N26 leverages IT systems to assure seamless integration of its online banking services with the Maestro network so that its customers can have access to the funds kept at the bank. TransferWise, an online cross-border payment service, is similarly dependent on the Mastercard network in the execution of the international money transfers. TransferWise similarly employs IT systems to assure seamless integration between its web service and the Maestro payment network.

We find several other types of dependencies on IT services for integration with the key partners for service delivery. Riskified, a B2B fraud prevention service is dependent on third-party data in building its risk models. Stash, an online trading platform, is critically dependent on using IT services to connect with exchanges, clearing and settlement partners to assure proper execution and settlement of customer trades.

Revenue models

We find startups commonly inherit business models from the respective industries in which they operate. For example, PolicyGenius collects referral fees for the insurance policies that customers purchase through the service. Betterment, an investment and retirement planning platform, charges account fees and transaction fees. Riskified offers its service on the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model to business customers and it charges integration and usage fees.

We do find several more aggressive revenue model stances among the startups in our sample. Stash, for example, eschews trading account fees in contrast to many traditional brokers. Similarly, N26, an online bank, offers free accounts and free otherinstitution ATM use, presumably subsidizing these services from investment revenues.

Table 2 summarizes the analysis on the role of IT across the key elements of the business models within the business model canvas framework.

Table 2. The role of IT in customer service delivery, key activities, managing relationships with key partners and revenue stream.

Startup Customer segment / Distribution

Key activities Key resources Key partners Revenue stream

Policygenius

The IT platform offers services directly to anyone looking for life, disability, auto and homeowner's insurance.

The IT platform supports lead generation and it automates the early stages in the lead screening process.

The IT platform supports relationships with insurers and clients.

The IT platform manages relationships with life, disability, auto and homeowner's insurance providers.

Commissions on purchased insurance policies.

Stash

The IT platform provides a trading platform to value-conscious traders.

The IT platform facilitates all aspects of the online investing services offered by the company.

The IT platform provides a fullservice trading platform.

The IT platform supports relationships with partners that provide account servicing, trade execution and clearing.

Trading rebates from exchanges.

Bread

The IT platform provides integration with online retailers as a conduit to individual consumers.

The IT platform enables purchase financing for consumers.

The IT platform offers integration, credit scoring and financing management.

The IT platform manages relationships with financial partners who are a source of capital.

Interest and fees on financed purchases.

Riskified

The IT platform integrates with enterprise customer workflows.

The IT provides a platform for risk assessment in B2B transactions.

The IT platform encapsulates proprietary data and risk modeling algorithms.

The IT platform is a self-contained offering, however it is dependent on third-party data for service delivery.

SaaS licensing.

Betterment

The IT platform provides direct access to budget-conscious consumers looking for retirement planning.

The IT platform provides retirement planning.

The IT platform is the core asset of the company, it provides financial management services for clients.

The IT platform streamlines relationships with investment funds that are the key partners to the platform.

Account management and trading fees.

N26

The IT platform provides direct access to online banking to technology-forward consumers.

The IT platform provides online banking services.

IT infrastructure is the core asset that supports service delivery to clients.

The IT platform integrates with Mastercard to support the service offerings.

Investment of customer funds.

Trans-ferWise

The IT platform provides a lower-cost option for international funds transfer.

The IT platform facilitates cross-border financial transfers.

The IT platform is the core asset of the company.

The IT platform integrates with Mastercard to support the service offerings.

Forex fees.

Cadre

The IT platform provides accredited investors with access to real estate investment opportunities.

The IT platform supports the full life cycle of real estate investment management.

The IT platform streamlines deal flow acquisition and due diligence.

The IT platform integrates with-Goldman Sachs. GS provides a source of financing.

Fees and interest on investments.

Common-Bond

The IT platform provides students with lower-cost educational loan options.

The IT platform supports C2C education lending.

The platform that encapsulates loan underwriting is the core asset of the company.

The IT platform streamlines relationships with institutional participants on the platform that provide capital.

Transaction fees

Venmo

The IT platform targets financial institutions and enables P2P payments for individual customers.

The IT platform enables P2P payments among individual banking customers.

The IT platform and the relationships with financial institutions are the core assets of the company.

The IT platform provides integration with the financial institutions that are clients.

Transaction fees

Discussion

The contribution of IT to innovation in fintech

Our analysis reveals that information technology plays a key role across all components of the business models in fintech firms. IT plays a central role in value proposition formulation across all firms in our sample. IT systems developed by the startups encompass business process logic that underpins the core value creation by the respective companies. This is the case for firms in the B2C and B2B/B2C startups where the IT systems are the focal points of contact with customers. This is also the case in the B2B scenario where the systems deliver value to business partners.

IT systems that are typically developed by startups as layered architectures with web and mobile frontend components, afford a direct channel to end customers. The direct route to end customers is consistent with the general role of technology in the disintermediation trend in fintech innovation that has been noted in prior research [START_REF] Chiu | Fintech and Disruptive Business Models in Financial Products, Intermediation and Markets-Policy Implications for Financial Regulators[END_REF]. But the IT systems do more than just establish a direct route to end customers, the IT systems also support customer segmentation and personalization. The online insurance, equity trading, wealth management and banking service startups are in a unique position to elicit individual customer preferences and provide service personalization for each individual client through automated segmentation and personalization algorithms. Across all startups in our sample, the IT systems also perform a key resource and process coordination function. The systems encapsulate and automate business processes, e.g. account application processes, they also provide seamless integration with partner systems where such integration is vital to service delivery, e.g. in the case of online banking and wire transfer services. By the virtue of encapsulating the core business processes and key partner relationships, the IT systems developed by fintech startups become the focal assets that support resource coordination that create value for the customers. In other words, information technology is interwoven into all elements of the fintech business model.

Potential for disruptive innovation

In his discussion of disruptive innovations, Christensen noted that disruptive innovations can emerge from low-cost offerings, focus on distinct customer segments, introduction of novel technologies and regulatory changes [START_REF] Christensen | The innovator's dilemma: When new technologies cause great firms to fail Harvard Business School Press[END_REF]. In our sample, Cadre exemplifies the case of disruptive innovation brought about by regulatory changes. Cadre offers real estate investment opportunities that were not available to investors prior to the passage of the JOBS Act [START_REF] Mamonov | Success factors in Title II equity crowdfunding in the United States[END_REF].

We find that all other startups in our dataset focus on cost savings as the primary point of differentiation vis-à-vis traditional financial service providers. For example, the insurance broker PolicyGenius promises savings on the insurance policies. The online bank N26 offers free banking account and no ATM fees. The online trading platform Stash offers free equity trading. These offerings do put pressure on the traditional revenue streams in financial services. For example, Wall Street Journal recently reported erosion in the trading commission income across financial institutions offering equity trading that has been driven by online trading platforms offering free equity trading [START_REF]Your Stock Trades Go Free but Your Cash Is in Chains[END_REF].

Conclusion

Fintech is a rapidly growing area of practice that is expected to reach $300 billion in revenues by 2023 [START_REF]Fintech Market: Industry Outlook, Size & Forecast 2018-2023[END_REF], yet relatively little is known about how fintech startups leverage technology for innovation. To address this gap in research, we examined the leading startups in the New York City fintech ecosystem that have collectively raised over $1.1 billion in funding. We drew on the business model canvas framework and we examined how the startups leverage technology across their business model components. We find that technology platforms form the core of the innovative service offerings developed by the startups in our dataset. Further, we find that startups use low-price offering as the dominant strategy for disrupting the existing financial services markets. These observations provide empirical support for the theoretical arguments that call for the reexamination of the organizational logics underlying technology-driven innovation [START_REF] Yoo | The tables have turned: How can the information systems field contribute to technology and innovation management research?[END_REF].

Table 1 .

 1 Startup value proposition, business model type, market focus and funding raised.

	Startup	Value proposition	Market	Model	Fund-
			focus	type	ing, $
					mil
	Policyge-	The online service provides an opportunity for insur-	L	B2C	51.1
	nius	ance seekers to compare policy premiums across sev-
		eral providers and select the best option.
	Stash	The online platform offers low-cost equity trading for	L	B2C	78.75
		individual investors -a basic account costs
		$1/month.