Short answer

Prioritize building trust and demonstrating clear performance and effort-related benefits to drive adoption of digital financial platforms. Enhance add-on services to support these core drivers rather than relying on them as standalone adoption incentives.

Field: Innovation & Markets
Source: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (2025)
Method: Quantitative survey research with structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
Sample: 416 participants
Evidence: Strong effect

User intention to adopt and use the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is significantly driven by perceived trust, promotional benefits, and the belief that it enhances performance and is easy to use, rather than by the availability of add-on services themselves. This innovation & markets research insight is drawn from a 2025 study published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. Using Quantitative survey research with structural equation modeling (pls-sem). with 416 participants, researchers explored how this design variable affects real-world outcomes. The key design takeaway: Prioritize building trust and demonstrating clear performance and effort-related benefits to drive adoption of digital financial platforms. Enhance add-on services to support these core drivers rather than relying on them as standalone adoption incentives.

Study

Innovation & MarketsNew This WeekStrong effect

Perceived Trust and Promotional Benefits Drive UPI Adoption, While Add-on Services Indirectly Enhance User Experience

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · 2025

Key Findings

01Facilitating conditions, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, perceived promotional benefits, and perceived trust significantly influence users' intention to adopt UPI.
02User intention to adopt UPI significantly influences its usage behavior.
03Add-on services did not directly affect users' intention to adopt UPI.
04Add-on services significantly impacted performance expectancy and effort expectancy.
05Perceived promotional benefits impacted facilitating conditions for UPI usage.

Application

Design takeaway

How to apply

When designing new digital financial products or features, conduct user research to identify core drivers of trust and perceived value. Develop and market add-on features that demonstrably improve performance expectancy and effort expectancy, and communicate these improvements effectively.

Project actions

01When researching user adoption, consider a mix of direct and indirect influencing factors.
02Use established theories like UTAUT to structure your research and hypotheses.
03Investigate how different features contribute to overall user perception, even if not directly driving initial adoption.

Method & Evidence

AimTo investigate the factors influencing the intention to adopt and use the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), specifically examining the roles of add-on services, perceived promotional benefits, perceived trust, and the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) factors, while considering demographic moderators.

MethodQuantitative survey research with structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

ProcedureA survey was administered to 416 UPI users to collect data on their perceptions of various factors influencing UPI adoption and usage. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was then used to analyze the relationships between these factors and user intention/behavior.

Sample416 participants

ContextDigital financial services, specifically mobile payment systems in India.

Variables

IV["Facilitating conditions","Performance expectancy","Effort expectancy","Social influence","Perceived promotional benefits","Perceived trust","Add-on services"]

DV["Intention to adopt UPI","Usage behavior"]

CV["Demographic attributes (age, occupation, gender, income)"]

Strengths & Limitations

Strengths

+Utilizes a robust theoretical framework (UTAUT).
+Employs advanced statistical analysis (PLS-SEM) for model validation.
+Investigates a relevant and rapidly growing area of digital finance.

Limitations

The study did not explore the specific types of add-on services that might have a stronger indirect impact. The moderating effects of demographics were limited to age and occupation, suggesting other factors could also play a role.

Reliability & validity

The study's reliability is supported by the use of a validated theoretical model (UTAUT) and statistical analysis (PLS-SEM). Validity is enhanced by examining multiple influencing factors and their interrelationships, though the specific context of UPI in India may limit generalizability.

Think critically

How might the perceived value of 'add-on services' differ across different user segments, and could this explain why they didn't directly impact adoption intention in this study?

Design Principles

"The perceived value and usability of a digital service are more critical for adoption than the mere presence of ancillary features."

Understanding the core drivers of adoption for digital financial platforms like UPI is crucial for market expansion and user engagement. This research highlights that while add-on services may not directly influence adoption intent, they can positively impact the perceived value and ease of use, indirectly supporting broader platform adoption.

What This Means for Your Design

People are more likely to start using a new payment app like UPI if they trust it, see good deals, and find it easy to use and helpful. Extra features don't convince them to sign up directly, but they can make the app seem better and easier to handle, which helps. How well the app performs matters more to some age groups and job types than others.

How to use in your project

1.Use the findings to justify focusing on trust and perceived benefits in your design strategy.
2.Reference the study when discussing how features contribute to user experience, even indirectly.

Add to My Project

Quick Cite

Paragraph starter

This research highlights that user adoption of digital financial platforms like UPI is primarily driven by perceived trust, promotional benefits, and the perceived performance and ease of use, rather than the direct appeal of add-on services. While add-on services did not directly influence adoption intention, they significantly enhanced performance and effort expectancies, indirectly supporting platform usage. This suggests that design efforts should focus on strengthening core value propositions and user experience to foster adoption.

Source

Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

Assessing Unified Payments Interface (UPI) adoption and usage through the interplay of UTAUT factors

journal · 2025

View source

Questions About This Research

What does the research say about perceived trust and promotional benefits drive upi adoption, while add-on services indirectly enhance user experience?: Prioritize building trust and demonstrating clear performance and effort-related benefits to drive adoption of digital financial platforms. Enhance add-on services to support these core drivers rather than relying on them as standalone adoption incentives. Evidence: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications (2025).
Why does "Perceived Trust and Promotional Benefits Drive UPI Adoption, While Add-on Services Indirectly Enhance User Experience" matter for design?: Understanding the core drivers of adoption for digital financial platforms like UPI is crucial for market expansion and user engagement. This research highlights that while add-on services may not directly influence adoption intent, they can positively impact the perceived value and ease of use, indirectly supporting broader platform adoption.
How can designers apply this research?: Prioritize building trust and demonstrating clear performance and effort-related benefits to drive adoption of digital financial platforms. Enhance add-on services to support these core drivers rather than relying on them as standalone adoption incentives.
What were the main findings?: Facilitating conditions, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, perceived promotional benefits, and perceived trust significantly influence users' intention to adopt UPI.. User intention to adopt UPI significantly influences its usage behavior.. Add-on services did not directly affect users' intention to adopt UPI.. Add-on services significantly impacted performance expectancy and effort expectancy.
What research method was used?: Quantitative survey research with structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). with 416 participants.
How strong is the evidence?: Evidence strength is rated Strong effect, based on a 2025 journal from Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.
What should I do differently in my next project?: When designing new digital financial products or features, conduct user research to identify core drivers of trust and perceived value. Develop and market add-on features that demonstrably improve performance expectancy and effort expectancy, and communicate these improvements effectively.
What are the limitations?: The study's findings might be specific to the Indian market and the current stage of UPI development. The direct impact of add-on services on adoption intention was not found, but their indirect effects were significant, suggesting a need for nuanced understanding.