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Electronic payment systems (EPS) are considered to be the backbone for the development and diffusion of electronic commerce (e-commerce) and thus an important ingredient for e-commerce to be successful. Electronic payment systems facilitate the transfer of monetary values over the internet for the payment of products and services. EPS is defined as a form of financial commitment that brings consumers and sellers to the same platform through electronic/internet medium and powered by institutions that offer electronic financial transactions (Abrazhevich, 2004; Antwi, Hamza, & Bavoh, 2015). It is also considered as an electronic way of undertaking payments for services provided online through internet-based money exchange or electronic transfers, automated clearing house or a commercial institution system (Adeoti & Osotimehin, 2012; Masihuddin, Khan, Mattoo, & Olanrewaju, 2017; Mieseigha & Ogbodo, 2013). As compared to traditional payment systems, electronic payment systems are more convenient, faster, efficient, and economical (Yang, 2017).
China has one of the strongest electronic payment systems in the world due to its technological advancement in recent years. The evolution of China’s payment systems is influenced by the environmental and cultural factors as well as the difficulties imposed by the country's size, economic conditions, and infrastructure (He & Sappideen, 2008). China has the largest card network in the world with 7.6 billion cards of which the majority is the debit card (6.9 billion) and the rest are credit cards (686 million) (Klein, 2019). The internet or online payment is the norm and popular payment system in China which enables consumers and businesses to complete their e-commerce transactions (Yang, 2017). AliPay is considered the most popular online/electronic payment system in China due to its convenience, timely, and quickness of its transaction (Yang, 2017). AliPay and Union Pay respectively have 34.71% and 22.44% share of the electronic payment market in China as of 2017 (Yang, 2017). As of March 2020, the cumulative number of online payment users in China from December 2009 to March 2020 was around 768 million online payment users (Statista, 2020a). The penetration rate of online payment in China from 2008-2020 indicates that as at the first quarter of 2020, about 85% of internet users in China have engaged in online payment services (Statista, 2020b).