Extending UTAUT with national identity and fairness to understand user adoption of DCEP in China

The introduction of digital currency electronic payment (DCEP) by the Central Bank of China is conducive to the central bank's timely grasp of macroeconomic dynamics and the internationalization of RMB. As DCEP is one of the first digital currencies issued by the central bank to be used on a large scale internationally, it is necessary to conduct research on its user adoption. Therefore, this research extends the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to explore factors affecting the adoption of DCEP. The researchers cooperated with city banks that have started to use DCEP, and distributed questionnaires to users in the lobbies of these banks. A total of 295 valid questionnaires were empirically examined with Smart-PLS. The results indicate that perceived fairness, habits, social influence and national identity have significant effects on usage, with p values less than 0.05. National identity is shown to be a significant moderator of the relationships between perceived fairness, habit, perceived risk and usage, with p values less than 0.05. National identity is shown to have no moderating effect between social influence and usage, with a p value greater than 0.05. This research provides the central bank and the government with suggestions to increase user enthusiasm and reduce user perceived risks, thereby promoting the widespread use of DCEP.