Cash or Card: Consumer Perceptions of Payment Modes - Scholarly ...

3.1: Introduction
Chapter Three
Conceptual Positioning and Proposition Formation
This Chapter identifies pertinent theories that underpin and direct the formation and
justification of the propositions. Three research questions emerged from the literature review:
Do the cognitive and emotional elements that people associate with a cash
based payment mode differ from those associated with a debit card based
payment mode?
Is there a link between the cognitive and emotional associations that people
have with specific payment modes and their payment mode choice?
Does the payment mode used affect the volume, value, brands/products
purchased in a single transaction? If so, how?
To direct the research, the study opts for the use of propositions. Though the terms
proposition and hypothesis both refer to the formulation of a possible answer to a specific
scientific question the main difference between the two is that a proposition is a broad
statement drawn from a theory, whereas a hypothesis takes this one step further and
formulates a more specific statement that is empirically testable. That is, proposition(s) state
a relationship between two concepts, and a hypothesis operationalizes this relationship and
puts it in an empirically testable form (Whetten, 1989: 491).
The use of propositions to direct this research task is preferred primarily because of the
exploratory nature of the research. The established knowledge in the area of payment mode
effects is disparate and our understanding of the relationship between the physicality of the
payment mode and purchase behaviour is scant, so testing predictive relationships at this
stage seem premature. In this study the intent is to identify associations and make inferences.
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