FinTech Adoption and Consumer Financial Decision-Making: A Behavioral Economics Narrative Review

This structured narrative review synthesizes evidence on FinTech adoption and consumer financial decision-making through a behavioral economics lens, with emphasis on EU-relevant settings and the post–COVID-19 period. Across digital payments, mobile banking, and robo-advisory services, adoption, continued use, and advice-following are shaped by (i) shocks and habit formation, (ii) trust, privacy concerns, and perceived risk, and (iii) capability constraints (financial and digital literacy) interacting with demographic and socioeconomic heterogeneity. We consolidate convergent findings, delineate contested areas—especially when and why consumers rely on algorithmic advice—and highlight measurement priorities for research on financial inclusion. The paper concludes with a survey-ready construct map linking behavioral mechanisms (e.g., trust, perceived complexity, privacy concern, perceived recourse, and confidence calibration) to adoption outcomes and inclusion risks.