Who uses mobile payment apps in developing countries? Literacy, education, and the role of trust

Digital financial inclusion strategies often assume that higher levels of education and financial literacy promote adoption of digital financial services by increasing trust. However, empirical evidence on how literacy interacts with trust remains limited, particularly across countries at different stages of digital ecosystem maturity. This study uses cross-sectional survey data collected from low-income individuals in Bangladesh and Indonesia (n = 2,000). We estimate multivariate regression models to examine the relationship between education, financial literacy, institutional trust, and mobile payment adoption, and apply Shapley value decomposition to assess the relative contribution of correlated explanatory factors. Theresults reveal substantial cross-country differences. In Bangladesh,both education and financial literacy are positively associated withmobile payment adoption. In Indonesia, a more digitally maturecontext, these relationships are weaker and in some cases reversed.Notably, higher levels.The findings challenge the assumption that financial literacy alone fosters digital financial inclusion. Policy efforts should complement education initiatives with stronger consumer protection, fraud prevention, and trust-building measures tailored to local contexts.