Despite the increasing popularity of digital payment methods, cash and card remain the most popular choices.
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In 2021, 65 percent of all point-of-sale transactions globally were made using cash or card, according to Fidelity National Information Services.
Past research shows that 90 percent of households use multiple payment methods, but new research from the University of Notre Dame takes a first look into how consumers choose between them. The study finds that the justifiability of a purchase affects how consumers choose to pay.
"Purchase Justifiability Drives Payment Choice: Consumers Pay With Card To Remember And Cash To Forget" is forthcoming in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research from Christopher Bechler, assistant professor of marketing in Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, along with Szu-chi Huang from Stanford University and Joshua Morris, data science manager for Nike.
"When a purchase is difficult to justify like buying an overpriced bottle of water at the airport, cigarettes or candy consumers pay with less trackable methods, like cash, so they can eliminate the paper or electronic trail and 'forget' this guilty purchase," said Bechler, who specializes in consumer behavior and social psychology with an emphasis on attitudes, persuasion and financial decision-making.
"When a purchase is easy to justify, consumers have no problem paying with trackable methods like credit cards that create paper or electronic trails."
despite the increasing popularity of digital payment methods, cash and card remain the most popular choices worldwide. In 2021, 65 percent of all point-of-sale transactions globally were made using cash or card, according to Fidelity National Information Services.
Past research shows that 90 percent of households use multiple payment methods, but new research from the University of Notre Dame takes a first look into how consumers choose between them. The study finds that the justifiability of a purchase affects how consumers choose to pay.
"Purchase Justifiability Drives Payment Choice: Consumers Pay With Card To Remember And Cash To Forget" is forthcoming in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research from Christopher Bechler, assistant professor of marketing in Notre Dame's Mendoza College of Business, along with Szu-chi Huang from Stanford University and Joshua Morris, data science manager for Nike.
"When a purchase is difficult to justify like buying an overpriced bottle of water at the airport, cigarettes or candy consumers pay with less-trackable methods, like cash, so they can eliminate the paper or electronic trail and 'forget' this guilty purchase," said Bechler, who specializes in consumer behavior and social psychology with an emphasis on attitudes, persuasion and financial decision-making.
"When a purchase is easy to justify, consumers have no problem paying with trackable methods like credit cards that create paper or electronic trails." ■