“电子钱包”让人花钱更多?——手机支付的心理账户效应

Does Electronic Wallet Make One Spend More? Mental Accounting of Mobile Payment

为探究手机支付使用者消费增加的现象及其心理账户效应,使用计算机程序对114名被试进行了三项模拟购物实验。实验发现:(1)手机支付组被试的商品消费次数和金额都显著高于现金支付组被试。(2)手机支付时被试不会对大金额的消费进行控制,对大钱和小钱的花费不存在显著差异。(3)手机支付的意外收入组被试消费次数和金额显著高于常规收入组被试,且更多用于享乐型消费。

Users＇ switch from cash payment to mobile payment is bringing about a cashless society. Of particular interest is the overspending during non-cash payment methods such as credit cards and debit cards. But few research has paid attention to overspending on mobile payment. Mental accounting has been proved to be closely associated with consumers＇ economic decisions. However, the studies on mental accounting of mobile payment were rare. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the influence of mobile payment. The present study hypothesized（1） That consumers tend to spend more using mobile payment compared to cash,（2）That mental accounting effect between the big bill and small bill does not exist in the mobile payment mental accounting, therefore, people would no longer tend to control their spending of big money, and（3） That the effect of windfall gains with mobile phone red packet exists, leading to more spending and greater preference for hedonic goods.114 undergraduates were recruited in three experiments to simulate behaviors of payment. In Experiment 1, 47 participants（14 males and 33 females, mean age =21.19） were divided into two groups. One group used mobile payment, meanwhile the other group used cash payment to buy items displayed on the computer screen with E-prime 2.0. In Experiment 2, 35 participants（17 males and 18 females, mean age =21.29） were divided into two groups. One group was given 100 yuan once; the other group was given 100 yuan as well but in four times. Both group chose goods on the computer and paid with mobile payment. In Experiment 3, 32 participants（17 males and 15 females, mean age=19.50） were divided into two groups. One group was given windfall gains via We Chat red packets, the other group was given money via regular accounts. Both groups used mobile payment to pay for goods that they chose.Experiment 1 showed mobile payment group spent significantly more than cash payment group（p〈.01）, and it also had more frequent buying behaviors at the same time（p〈 .01）. In particular, mobile payment users chose more utilitarian goods than cash users（p〈 .01）. Experiment 2 showed mobile payment group given money four times, non-significantly spent more money than the other group who were paid off once（p 〉.05）. In Experiment 3, ＂Windfall gains＂ group spent more（p 〈.01） and bought more frequently（p 〈.01） than ＂regular gains＂ group. For hedonic goods, ＂windfall gains＂ group also spent more money（p 〈.01） and bought more frequently（p〈 .05）.Conclusions are as follows：（1） Compared to cash payment, using mobile payment makes one spend more money.（2） In the mental accounting of mobile payment, the principle of ＂control major, ignore minor＂ is not significant. Participants didn＇t tend to control their consuming of big money.（3） Mobile payment accounting exists the windfall gains effect with mobile phone red packets. With windfall gains, the consumption sum was higher and participants were inclined to increase hedonic consumption. These findings help raise young consumers＇ awareness of mental accounting effects of mobile payment, thus informing their consumer decisions.