Description of Invention
The B40 group in Malaysia is comprised of low-income earners, who are often precluded from making sound investment decisions and personal financial management because of their disadvantages in financial literacy, awareness and resources. They also have issues of transparency and high management fees. Motivated by the introduction of financial robo-advisors, which are financial technologies that use automated portfolio management systems and thereby require less human intervention and fees, and thus make investment accessible for the B40, this study, therefore, adopts the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) model and the notion of advisory transparency as a mediator to investigate the factors influencing the adoption intention of financial robo-advisor among the B40 in Malaysia. A sample of 336 data was collected using the purposive sampling method and self-administered bilingual questionnaires. The results obtained from structural equation modelling (SEM) showed that advisory transparency, performance expectancy, and price value have direct effects on intention, while performance expectancy, facilitating conditions, hedonistic motivation, and price value have indirect effects on intention mediated by advisory transparency. The finding suggests that more emphasis should be placed on advisory transparency and financial education to promote robo-advisor adoption among the B40 in Malaysia. This study is distinguished from other research as it fills the gap by integrating advisory transparency into the UTAUT2 model and provides insight into how advisory transparency interacts with UTAUT2 factors in promoting robo-advisor adoption among the B40 who requires particular attention. The study supports the initiatives of the Malaysian government and the United Nations SDG1 (no poverty) and can be a reference for policymakers, particularly in devising social welfare and educational policies to eradicate poverty.