Mobile Payment and Service Interaction: Change and Chance for Delivering Service in Mobile Payment Checkout

Abstract

This study explores how mobile payment reconfigures checkout service by investigating role and script changes and customers’ reactions to interactions beyond transactions. Study 1 utilized video analysis, showing that although checkout clerks are less involved in payment, they have chances for achieving nonpayment interactions (i.e., functional work and relational work). Study 2 adopted a survey-based experimental design to examine whether customers exhibited psychological discomfort when facing nonpayment interactions considering tie strength and customer orientation type. This study suggests the importance of nonpayment interactions in utilitarian retail contexts and reinspects the role and script of customers and employees in mobile checkouts.

Keywords:

• Mobile payment
• roles
• scripts
• retail checkout
• nonpayment interaction
• service encounter

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 We identified patterns within the video database. Among the 115 cases of mobile payment analyzed, 21 cases showed observable non-payment interactions. Notably, 8 cases involved “functional work”, where clerks informed customers about promotions and discounts, such as “Would you like to buy one more for discount?” or “Can I interest you in something to eat?” Additionally, 7 cases encompassed “relational work”, with clerks engaging customers in conversations, inquiring about their day, or engaging in small talk. Furthermore, 6 cases depicted clerks providing verbal guidance or assistance with QR code scanning. Conversely, the 3 cases of cash payments revealed no non-payment interactions, as checkout clerks focused exclusively on payment-related tasks. These findings indicate a shift in roles and scripts resulting from the transition from cash to mobile checkout. As for the 2 cases involving card payments, customers used prepaid cards and tapped them on the terminal for payment. This reflects the reality that card payment is not prevalent in China.