The Impact of Government Levy on Mobile Money Service and Customers’ Purchase Decisions; A case of M-Pesa services in Mwanza Tanzania.
The study investigated the impact of government levies on customer purchase decisions for mobile money services and products. The specific objectives were, to determine the impact of government levy on mobile receipts and its effect on customer purchase decision, to determine the impact of government levy on mobile payments and its effect on customer purchase decision, to determine the impact of government levy on mobile savings transaction costs and its effect on customer purchase decision; and to investigate the perception of M-PESA subscribers’ on the imposed government levy on their mobile money service purchase decision. The study used a simple mixed-method approach whereby mobile money subscribers were given a questionnaire and mobile money agents were interviews. Data were analysed in descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, especially multiple regression. The findings revealed that government levies negatively affected mobile money transaction receipts, mobile money payments, and withdrawals, and mobile money transaction cost. As a result, customer purchase decisions were also affected negatively which eventually lowered transactions in mobile money platforms. On the side of the interview findings, it was revealed that mobile money agents were also affected to the extent of closing some of their agents, especially for those who had more than one shop due to reduced revenues caused by a reduction in consumer purchase decisions of mobile money products. These findings are important for both the telecommunication players and also the government as it informs them on the perception of the mobile money users which can help them to improve the decision on the imposed government levies.
Keywords: Mobile money, government levy, customer purchase decision, fund transfer. E-money
