Mobile Payments Affordance as a Driver for End User Entrepreneurship: Merchant Perspectives from Ghana

This explorative study uses the affordance theory to offer an in-depth understanding of how mobile payment affordances are unconventionally facilitating the rise of end-user entrepreneurs, and to explore why these end-user entrepreneurs expand and commercialize their creative ideas. Qualitatively, the researchers interviewed 20 end-user entrepreneurs in eight merchant firms. The data suggest that six significant affordances may serve as motivating factors for the merchant to switch to end-user entrepreneurship. These affordances are the following: i) incorporating informal peer-to-peer business approach; ii) frequent and small transactions settling; iii) greater flexibility in service delivery; iv) new business model development; v) informal finance networks; and vi) financial affordance. Employing a developing economy perspective with a particular focus on Ghana, this paper contributes to both the mobile payment research and end-user entrepreneurial studies, extending the existing knowledge in the area and providing interesting opportunities for future studies.