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Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for online services has risen, with e-payment emerging as a prominent option for customers seeking faster and more convenient transactions to complete their online purchases. Nevertheless, e-payment adoption in Egypt remains a challenge that requires further investigation. Thus, this study aims to investigate the factors influencing online customers’ attitudes and intentions towards adopting e-payment for online transactions, social influence, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, perceived trust, structural assurance and perceived privacy/security risk.

The data were gathered from 302 customers in Egypt and structurally analysed based on partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

The findings revealed that social influence, perceived usefulness and perceived trust are significant antecedents of attitude. Furthermore, perceived usefulness, perceived trust, perceived privacy/security risk and attitude directly influence behavioural intention. Structural assurance and perceived trust directly influence perceived privacy/security risk. Moreover, perceived usefulness, perceived trust and attitude were found to have several mediating roles.

This study adds new empirical evidence from a developing country regarding the adoption of e-payment among online customers. In addition, its findings can help the government, practitioners and policymakers understand how to promote customers’ positive attitudes and encourage their intentions towards using e-payment.

The findings of this study can contribute to the digital transformation strategy in Egypt by providing insights into enhancing online shoppers’ attitudes and intentions towards e-payment adoption. This, in turn, can boost Egyptian e-commerce and the country's digital economy as a whole.

Gazelle companies are characterized by rapid growth in a short time. Identifying the determinants of this exponential expansion is important as these firms have a significant impact on the economy. They generate increased employment and investment by investors interested in new opportunities. Previous studies have failed to reach a consensus about what fosters high growth in gazelle companies as each firm’s geographical, political and economic context is different. The present research uses cognitive mapping and interpretive structural modeling (ISM) to overcome the limitations of prior investigations and identify factors that can potentially accelerate growth in gazelle companies.

Two sessions were held with an expert panel with knowledge about and experience with these firms. In the first session, data were collected to create a group cognitive map, while the second meeting comprised ISM-based analyses of the high-growth determinants identified and the causal relationships between them. A final consolidation session was held to discuss the results with two members of the Committee for Central Region Coordination and Development (i.e. Comissão de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional do Centro – a public entity that grants gazelle awards in Portugal).

The analysis system created was tested, and the results demonstrate that the dual methodology used can increase our understanding of the dynamics of high-growth determinants and lead to more informed and potentially better evaluations of gazelle companies. Indeed, once high-growth determinants in gazelle companies are understood, this information can help other firms implement the same business model to achieve similarly rapid growth. The strengths and shortcomings of this new structured analysis model are also analyzed.

The authors know of no prior work reporting the integrated use of cognitive mapping and ISM in this study context.