Perceived Experience versus System Quality in Explaining Payment Gateway Continuance: An Extended ECM Study of Behpardakht Mellat

Purpose: With the proliferation of financial technologies and the increasing use of Internet Payment Gateways (IPGs), sustaining users' continuance intention has become one of the most critical challenges for Payment Service Providers (PSPs). This study aims to explain the factors influencing customers' continuance intention to use Behpardakht Mellat's IPGs by extending the Expectation-Confirmation Model (ECM) through the integration of three key constructs: perceived system quality, perceived experience, and perceived security. The study specifically examines the comparative role of perceived experience versus perceived system quality in explaining expectation confirmation. Design/methodology/approach: This research is applied in purpose and quantitative, descriptive-correlational in method. Data were collected through a standardized questionnaire (validated for face and content validity by three experts) from ۳۰۷ users of Behpardakht Mellat's IPG who had used the platform within the past six months. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) using SmartPLS ۴ was employed to test the conceptual model and research hypotheses. The validity and reliability of the measurement instrument were confirmed through factor loadings, composite reliability, Cronbach's alpha, Average Variance Extracted (AVE), Fornell-Larcker criterion, and HTMT ratio. Findings: The results indicated that all hypothesized relationships in the research model were significant at p < ۰.۰۰۱. Customer satisfaction emerged as the strongest predictor of continuance intention to use the IPG (β = ۰.۴۵۲). Expectation confirmation had significant effects on perceived usefulness (β = ۰.۴۲۱) and satisfaction (β = ۰.۳۵۴). Perceived experience exerted a stronger influence on expectation confirmation (β = ۰.۴۱۳) than perceived system quality (β = ۰.۳۸۲), highlighting the importance of user experience dimensions beyond purely technical system features. Additionally, perceived security had a positive and significant effect on user satisfaction (β = ۰.۳۳۱), and perceived system quality significantly influenced perceived usefulness (β = ۰.۲۹۱). The proposed model explained ۶۴.۱% of the variance in continuance intention, ۷۱.۳% in satisfaction, and ۵۸.۲% in expectation confirmation, demonstrating the explanatory and predictive power of the extended model. Conclusion: The findings demonstrate that extending the ECM through the integration of system quality, user experience, and perceived security provides a more comprehensive understanding of post-adoption behavior among IPG users. The results emphasize the importance of simultaneous investment in user experience design, technical system quality enhancement, and security mechanism strengthening to increase user satisfaction and loyalty. This study contributes to the post-adoption behavior literature in the FinTech domain and offers valuable practical guidelines for PSPs and electronic payment system managers to improve customer retention rates. Future research can extend these findings through longitudinal approaches and across different cultural contexts.

کلیدواژه ها:

Expectation-Confirmation Model ، Internet Payment Gateway ، Continuance Intention ، Perceived Experience ، System Quality ، Behpardakht Mellat