www.astesj.com 290 The Role of Promotion in Mobile Wallet Adoption – A Research in Vietnam Ha Hoang 1,* , Tan Trinh Le 2 1 University of Economics, The University of Danang, Da Nang 550000, Vietnam 2 Business department, FPT University, Da Nang 550000, Vietnam A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T Article history: Received: 31 August, 2020 Accepted: 16 October, 2020 Online: 10 November, 2020 Mobile wallet is an application that allows users to make online payments using their mobile phones. In the context of an outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic in Vietnam and the world, mobile wallets are considered having many opportunities to change people's cash spending habits. The current study assesses the factors impact on the intention to use the mobile wallet, focusing on understanding the relationship of promotion with common factors in technology adoption research such as perceived risk, perceived usefulness, habits, social influences. The research results also show the direct and indirect effects of promotion on intent to use. From this result, 7 of 9 research hypotheses were accepted. Promotion, often overlooked by researchers, has been proven to be a critical factor when researching technology adoption because it significantly improves the level of intentional interpretation of the research model. This study will be the premise for future researches when studying adoption technology, researchers could integrate promotion to the model to achieve a significant improvement in the level of interpretation as showed in this study. Keywords: Mobile wallet Mobile payment Digital economy 1. Introduction PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) survey in 27 countries recorded Vietnam as the fastest growing mobile payments market in 2018, with the percentage of users increasing from 37% to 61% [1]. Facing increasingly complicated developments of the COVID- 19 epidemic, the Vietnam’s Government has also recommended people to limit cash payment and increase the use of online payment services to decrease the risk of infection. As a result, cashless payment methods, including mobile wallets, have a great opportunity to become more and more popular. In Vietnam, the ratio of non-cash payments to the total means of payment is only 14%, so the scope for growth of mobile wallets is huge. This context has created many favorable conditions to help mobile wallets develop and increasingly change the cash using habits of most Vietnamese people, actively contributing to bringing Vietnam towards the cashless economy [2]. Mobile payment means all payment services are made through mobile devices such as laptops, tablets or smartphones. Among them, mobile wallets are the latest e-commerce method that helps customers to make payment, shopping online, booking and share services. In terms of technology, a mobile wallet is an application installed in a smartphone or a tablet which allows consumers to input money and make online payments directly with the mobile wallet [3]. Mobile wallets can also be recognized as the revolution derived from e-wallets. Owning a wide ecosystem is a way of integrating into the digital transformation stream of users, especially young people who love technology. Because of the nature of mobile wallets, it is convenient, fast and secure in payment for daily activities, reducing the risks associated with spending and managing cash. Although the application of technology has received long- standing attention from the government, it has not developed to achieve the desired scale, required for application in the entire systems payments in Vietnam. Vietnamese clients still prefer to use cash, reflected in the fact that there are still nearly 90% of transactions are paid by cash. Until now, almost no scholars doing research on mobile wallet in Vietnam whereas Vietnam is one of fastest growth in Asia area and is considered as a very attractive market for investors in all fields, especially technological payment. This study was carried out to fill the research gap in Vietnam related to mobile wallet. This research aims to explore the factors affecting the intention to use of mobile wallet in Vietnam. The results are expected to provide the suggestions for mobile wallet suppliers to reach customers more effectively, and policymakers to drive a cashless economy in Viet Nam. In addition, the role of promotion demonstrated in this study will be the premise for future researches ASTESJ ISSN: 2415-6698 * Corresponding Author: Ha Hoang, hahoang@due.edu.vn Advances in Science, Technology and Engineering Systems Journal Vol. 5, No. 6, 290-298 (2020) www.astesj.com Special Issue on Innovative Research in Applied Science, Engineering and Technology https://dx.doi.org/10.25046/aj050635