Factors influencing adoption of digital financial services among the elderly in Zhengzhou, China : Moderating effect of perceived ease of use

Digital financial services (DFS) have become increasingly vital worldwide, particularly in the post–COVID-19 era. Despite the rapid growth of the elderly population and its significant societal role in China, individual-level DFS adoption among older adults remains underexplored. Existing technology acceptance frameworks, such as the full Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), often fail to account for elderly-specific psychological barriers, including technology anxiety, as well as critical contextual factors such as perceived trust and perceived risk in digital financial transactions. These omissions limit theoretical advancement and practical understanding of DFS adoption among older adults and pose challenges to promoting digital financial inclusion. To address this gap, this study investigates the key drivers and barriers influencing DFS usage among individuals aged 65 and above in Zhengzhou, China. Using a deductive quantitative approach, the study extends the UTAUT model by incorporating facilitating conditions, technology anxiety, perceived trust, and perceived risk as direct antecedents of behavioural intention. Behavioural intention is examined as a mediating variable, while perceived ease of use is modeled as a moderating variable. Data were collected from 382 elderly participants residing in nursing homes, community care centers, and day-care centers in Zhengzhou using simple random sampling. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was conducted using SmartPLS 4. The findings reveal that behavioural intention significantly mediates the relationships between the proposed determinants and DFS usage behaviour. Facilitating conditions and perceived trust positively influence behavioural intention, whereas technology anxiety and perceived risk exert significant negative effects. Moreover, perceived ease of use mitigates the adverse effects of technology anxiety and perceived risk and amplifies the positive influence of facilitating conditions, but does not moderate the effect of perceived trust. This study proposes an elderly-centric adoption framework and offers policy-relevant insights for enhancing digital financial inclusion in China.