Beyond Security and Trust: Habit as the Primary Determinant of Cashless Financial Behavior Among Generation Z
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58192/wawasan.v4i3.4664Keywords:
Cashless Society, Digital Payment, Financial Behavior, Generation Z, Perceived SecurityAbstract
Generation Z's rapid and habitual engagement with digital payment platforms raises an important theoretical question: do conventional predictors of technology adoption such as perceived security, ease of use, and financial literacy still meaningfully explain cashless financial behavior in this cohort? This study examines the influence of Perceived Security and Trust, Experience and Habit, Perceived Ease of Use (PEOU), and Digital Financial Literacy (DFL) on cashless financial behavior among 160 Generation Z respondents (aged 17–26) in Indonesia. Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4 and bootstrapping of 5.000 subsamples, the structural model explains 50.4% of variance in cashless financial behavior. Experience and Habit emerged as the only significant predictor (β = 0.660, p < 0.001), exhibiting a large effect size (f² = 0.444), while Perceived Security and Trust, PEOU, and DFL showed no statistically significant direct effects. These findings suggest that for digital natives who have already internalized cashless transactions as routine behavior, habitual reinforcement not cognitive evaluation is the primary behavioral driver. This provides empirical support for a temporally bounded interpretation of the extended Technology Acceptance Model.
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