From offline to online: understanding users' switching intentions from traditional wealth management services to mobile wealth management applications

Purpose Financial technology (Fintech) brings about innovative financial services, such as the possibility of introducing mobile wealth management applications (apps) into consumers' lives. Despite the rapid development of such apps, few studies have focused on users' switching intentions from traditional wealth management services to mobile settings (apps). Design/methodology/approach Through a survey research method, a total of 378 responses were collected to examine the model. The partial least squares (PLS) technique was employed for data analysis. Findings To fill this research gap, this paper adopts a push-pull-mooring (PPM) theoretical framework to develop a model for exploring users' switching intentions. According to the empirical results, several push (i.e. perceived inconvenience), pull (i.e. transaction efficiency, perceived personalization and mobile wealth management scenarios) or mooring (i.e. product market expertise and affective commitment) factors are identified that significantly affect switching intention. This study provides theoretical contributions and practical implications for the existing wealth management literature and also offers future research directions. Originality/value This study innovatively extends the PPM framework to the traditional and mobile wealth management domains to understand users' switching intentions from offline wealth management services to mobile wealth management apps. The authors uncover several push, pull and mooring factors that are critical for determining users’ switching decisions.