Erik Maier, Joe Boden, Robert Wilken

• Extant literature on payment methods has focused on comparing cash and credit cards and emphasized the lower pain of paying (i.e., fewer negative consequences) for the latter. This finding, in turn, explains why consumers express higher willingness to pay (WTP) when paying with credit cards. The current study introduces mobile technology as a new payment method to this literature. Specifically, it highlights coenience as a positive driver of increased WTP for mobile payment. However, for consumers to perceive mobile payment as coenient, a personal adoption (enabled through an existing system in the respective country market) is necessary. A set of three studies across several country markets tests these assumptions empirically. Coenience emerges as a new mediator between mobile payment and increased WTP, contingent on personal adoption. These findings thus extend extant literature on the mechanisms consumers use with different payment methods, and they offer differentiated recommendations regarding payment channels for country managers.