PERCEPTION OF WOMEN EMPLOYEES IN IT SECTOR TOWARDS ...journalstd.com/gallery/61-dec2019.pdf · perception of consumers towards cashless economy. Women employees in IT sector have

PERCEPTION OF WOMEN EMPLOYEES IN IT SECTOR TOWARDS

CASHLESS ECONOMY

Mr. S. PARTHIPAN

Ph.D. Research Scholar,

PG and Research Department of Commerce

Dr. D. KUMARESAN

Principal and HOD of Commerce,

Laxminarayana Arts and Science College for Women,

Thadangam, Dharmapuri (DT), Tamil Nadu, India

ABSTRACT

Economy in India is slowly moving from cash economy to cashless economy. The

people of India have been accepting the concept of cashless economy gradually. The

percentage of cashless transactions in the developed countries is higher than that of

developing countries. In India, the cashless economy has become popular after the

implementation of demonetization. Working women have been earning money from their

employment and they have freedom to take financial decisions independently. Cashless

transactions are safe and secure for women. They can easily perform financial transactions

like shopping, booking tickets, fund transfer, etc. The present study has examined the

perception of women employees in IT sector towards cashless economy. The study has

found that majority of respondents were pertaining to the age group of 20 to 30 years. Most

of the women employees have completed their education under engineering stream. The

monthly income earned by the greatest proportion of women employees was found to be

between Rs.20001 and Rs.40000. There was a significant relationship between age and

perception of women employees.

Keywords: Cashless economy; women employees; IT sector; perception

INTRODUCTION

Cashless economy has been adopted by many countries in the recent past. In India,

the cashless economy has been emerging as a paradigm shift in the cash economy. The

people in the country have been accustomed with the cash economy. In the digital era, they

have been shifting from cash economy to cashless economy gradually. However, after the

announcement of demonetization in the country, the cashless economy has been accelerated.

People have realized the benefits of cashless economy; particularly the women citizens feel

that they feel that cashless economy is safe, secure, comfortable and convenient. It is quite

popular among the educated and particularly the youngsters working in the IT sector. There

Science, Technology and Development

Volume VIII Issue XII DECEMBER 2019

ISSN : 0950-0707

Page No : 554

has been debate all over the world that implementation of 100 per cent cashless economy.

Many developed countries have shifted to cashless economy a long back ago. Before the

implementation of cashless economy, people need to carry cash wherever they go. It was not

safe to carry huge quantum of cash individually. Under cashless economy, it is not necessary

to carry cash, rather credit cards and debit cards can be used for making payments and

purchases. Nowadays, more innovative payments have been introduced for the welfare of the

people. Net banking and mobile banking facilities have made the payments easier and

secured while Paytm, Google Pay, etc. have made the payments quicker yet reliable.

Therefore, people have started using these modes of cashless transactions. It is also to be

noted that there are certain arguments against the cashless transactions that cyber crimes are

there and hackers involve in the fraudulent activities.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Madhu Gaba and Manisha Nagpal (2017) have conducted a study entitled, "Cashless

Economy – Problems and Prospects”. They have explained that cashless economy has

avoided carrying cash, debit and credit cards as well as queue in bank counters and ATMs.

They have pointed out that the benefits of cashless economy would be realized in the event of

any emergency situation. The authors have pronounced that easiness was instrumental in

shifting the financial transactions to digital transactions.

Alka Rank and Punit Kumar (2018) in their paper discussed about the meaning and

method of cashless economy and its impact on economy of the country. They have

mentioned that a mobile wallet is a way to carry cash in digital format. They have further

narrated that white money alone can be dealt with under cashless economy and the black

money would be blocked by the cashless economy. They have concluded that the people

have started shifting from cash transactions to digital transactions gradually.

Richa Goel et al (2019) published a paper entitled, “Moving from Cash to Cashless

Economy – A Study of Consumer Perception towards Digital Transactions”. They have

described that banking cards, USSD, AEPS, UPI, Mobile Wallets, Internet Banking and

Mobile Banking are the sources of cashless transactions. Cyber crimes, loss of database, data

encryption, e-illiteracy and lack of technological infrastructure were the major obstacles in

implementing cashless economy according to the authors.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Cashless economy is a major financial reform in a developing country like India. It is

understood from the review of previous literature that there has been a few studies on the



ISSN : 0950-0707

Page No : 555

perception of consumers towards cashless economy. Women employees in IT sector have

been earning more and spending more. Hence, the present study focuses on the perception of

women employees working in IT sector towards the cashless economy.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The following are the objectives of the study:

1. To observe the demographic profile the women employees in IT sector at Bangalore.

2. To examine the perception of women employees in IT sector towards cashless

economy

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The present study is mainly based on the primary data collected from the women

employees working in IT sector at Bangalore. A structured questionnaire was drafted and

administered among the sample respondents. For this purpose 5 IT companies – Infosys,

Accenture, Wipro, TCS and IBM were selected randomly and 50 women employees from

each of these companies were selected. However, due to incomplete questionnaire, 20

respondents were eliminated from the purview of sample respondents and hence, the sample

size was determined to be 230. The data collected from the sample respondents were

analyzed using percentage analysis and chi square test.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

The present study is subject to the following limitations:

The study has been conducted among women employees in IT sector at

Bangalore only and

The study is limited to 230 women employees working in IT sector only.

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

The data collected from the sample respondents have been analyzed in two parts –

demographic profile and perception towards cashless economy.

The demographic profile of the respondents included age, educational stream, monthly

income and marital status while the perception of women employees was examined with

reference to the following benefits:

1. There is no need to carry cash for making payments and purchases

2. Cashless transactions are safe and secure

3. Cashless payments and receipts are easier and faster

4. Cashless transactions can be done anywhere and anytime

5. Cashless payments and receipts are convenient



ISSN : 0950-0707

Page No : 556

6. OPT ensures additional security and

7. Smart phone is enough for cashless transactions

The sample respondents were asked to state their responses to these statements in a

five point rating scale – Strongly agree; Agree; Neutral; Disagree; and Strongly disagree.

TABLE 1

DEMOGRAPHIC VARIABLES OF THE RESPONDENTS

Demographic Variables Groups No. of respondents Percentage

Age 20 to 30 years 96 41.7

30 to 40 years 72 31.3

40 to 50 years 43 18.7

Above 50 years 19 8.3

Total 230 100

Educational Stream Arts 34 14.8

Science 72 31.3

Engineering 124 53.9

Total 230 100

Monthly Income Up to Rs. 20000 69 30.0

Rs. 20001 to Rs. 40000 83 36.1

Rs. 40001 to Rs. 60000 50 21.7

Above Rs. 60000 28 12.2

Total 230 100

Marital Status Married 81 35.2

Single 149 64.8

Total 230 100

From the Table 1, it could be understood that out of 230 sample respondents, 41.7 per

cent of them belonged to the age group of 20 to 30 years whereas 31.3 per cent of them were

pertaining to the age group of 30 to 40 years and 18.7 per cent of them were in the age group

of 40 to 50 years. The age group of 8.3 per cent of the sample respondents was found to be

above 50 years. It denotes that the majority of the women employees in the IT sector were in

the age group of 20 to 30 years.

The results indicated that among the total respondents 14.8 per cent of them have

completed their education under Arts stream while 31.3 per cent of the sample respondents

have completed their education under Science stream and 53.9 per cent of them have

completed their education under Engineering stream. It implies that the greatest proportion

of women employees in IT sector have completed their education under Engineering stream.

The analysis revealed that the monthly income of 30 per cent of the respondents was

up to Rs.20000 and that of 36.1 per cent of the respondents was found to be Rs.20001 to

Rs.40000. It was noted that 21.7 per cent of the sample respondents were earning a monthly



ISSN : 0950-0707

Page No : 557

income of Rs.40001 to Rs.60000 while the monthly income earned by 12.2 per cent of the

respondents was found to be above Rs.60000. It proclaims that the highest proportion of

women employees in IT sector were earning a monthly income of Rs.20001 to Rs.40000.

It is evident from the analysis of marital status that out of 230 respondents 35.2 per

cent of them were married and 64.8 per cent of them were single respondents. It discloses that

around one third of the women employees in IT sector only were married.

AGE AND PERCEPTION TOWARDS CASHLESS ECONOMY

Null Hypothesis H0: There is no significant relationship between age of the women

employees in IT sector and their perception towards the benefits of cashless economy

Alternative Hypothesis H1: There is a significant relationship between age of the women

employees in IT sector and their perception towards the benefit of cashless economy

TABLE 2

AGE AND PERCEPTION TOWARDS CASHLESS ECONOMY

Benefits Chi square value DF p value Result

Need not carry cash 28.848 12 0.004 Significant @ 1%

Safe and secure 104.36 12 0.000 Significant @ 1%

Easier and faster 26.281 12 0.010 Significant @ 1%

Anywhere and anytime 52.584 12 0.000 Significant @ 1%

Convenient 41.419 12 0.000 Significant @ 1%

OTP ensures additional security 33.464 12 0.001 Significant @ 1%

Smart phone is enough 44.58 12 0.000 Significant @ 1%

Table 2 depicts that the chi square value stating the relationship between age of the

women employees working in IT sector and their perception on ‘need not carry cash’ was

computed to be 28.848 for 12 degrees of freedom and the p value of 0.004. Since the p value

was less than 0.01, the null hypothesis is rejected and it is concluded that there exists a

significant relationship between age of the women employees working in IT sector and their

perception on ‘need not carry cash’. The computed value of chi square measuring the

relationship between age of the respondents and their perception on ‘safe and secure’ was

104.36 for 12 degrees of freedom and the p value was found to be 0.000. The null hypothesis

is rejected as the p value was less than 0.01. Therefore, it is inferred that the relationship

between age of women employees working in IT sector and their perception on ‘safe and

secure’ is significant. The relationship between age of women employees working in IT

sector and their perception on ‘easier and faster’ was measured in terms of chi square value of

26.281 for 12 degrees of freedom and the p value was ascertained to be 0.010. The null



ISSN : 0950-0707

Page No : 558

hypothesis is rejected and it is concluded that the age of the women employees working in IT

sector was significantly related to their perception on ‘easier and faster’.

It is divulged that the computed value of chi square indicating the association between

age of women employees working in IT sector and their perception on ‘anytime and

anywhere’ was found to be 52.584 and the p value was 0.001. Since the p value was less than

0.01, it falls in the rejection region and the null hypothesis is rejected. It is inferred that the

relationship between age of the women employees working in IT sector and their perception

on ‘anywhere and anytime’ is significant. The chi square value determining the relationship

between age of women employees working in IT sector and their perception on ‘convenient’

was computed to be 41.419 and the p value was 0.000. The null hypothesis is rejected as the

p value is less than 0.01. It is therefore proclaimed that there exists a significant relationship

between age of the women employees and their perception on ‘convenient’.

The results showed that the computed value of chi square stating the relationship

between age of women employees and their perception on ‘OTP ensures additional security’

was ascertained to be 33.464 while the p value was 0.001. The null hypothesis is rejected as

the p value is less than 0.01. It is inferred the relationship between age of women employees

and their perception on ‘OTP ensures additional security’ is significant. It is further noted

that the chi square value assessing the association between age of women employees and

their perception on ‘smart phone is enough’ was 44.58 and the p value was 0.000. Therefore,

it is concluded that there is a significant relationship between age of women employees and

their perception on ‘smart phone is enough’.

EDUCATIONAL STREAM AND PERCEPTION TOWARDS CASHLESS

ECONOMY

Null Hypothesis H0: There is no significant relationship between educational stream of the

women employees in IT sector and their perception towards the benefits of cashless economy

Alternative Hypothesis H1: There is a significant relationship between educational stream of

the women employees in IT sector and their perception towards the benefit of cashless

economy

TABLE 3

EDUCATIONAL STREAM AND PERCEPTION – CASHLESS ECONOMY




Easier and faster 12.139 8 0.145 Not Significant




ISSN : 0950-0707

Page No : 559

Convenient 12.259 8 0.140 Not Significant


Smart phone is enough 10.848 8 0.210 Not Significant

According to the Table 3 the chi square value stating the relationship between

educational stream of the women employees working in IT sector and their perception on

‘need not carry cash’ was computed to be 20.406 and the p value of 0.009. Since the p value


significant relationship between educational stream of the women employees working in IT

sector and their perception on ‘need not carry cash’. The computed value of chi square

measuring the relationship between educational stream of the respondents and their

perception on ‘safe and secure’ was 38.081 and the p value was found to be 0.000. The null

hypothesis is rejected as the p value was less than 0.01. Therefore, it is inferred that the

relationship between educational stream of women employees working in IT sector and their

perception on ‘safe and secure’ is significant. The relationship between educational stream of

women employees working in IT sector and their perception on ‘easier and faster’ was

measured in terms of chi square value of 12.139 and the p value was ascertained to be 0.145.

The null hypothesis is accepted and it is concluded that the educational stream of the women

employees working in IT sector was insignificantly related to their perception on ‘easier and

faster’.


educational stream of women employees working in IT sector and their perception on

‘anytime and anywhere’ was found to be 23.308 and the p value was 0.003. Since the p value

was less than 0.01, it falls in the rejection region and the null hypothesis is rejected. It is

inferred that the relationship between educational stream of the women employees working in

IT sector and their perception on ‘anywhere and anytime’ is significant. The chi square value

determining the relationship between educational stream of women employees working in IT

sector and their perception on ‘convenient’ was computed to be 12.259 and the p value was

0.000. The null hypothesis is rejected as the p value is less than 0.140. It is therefore

proclaimed that there exists no significant relationship between educational stream of the

women employees and their perception on ‘convenient’.


between educational stream of women employees and their perception on ‘OTP ensures

additional security’ was ascertained to be 20.954 while the p value was 0.007. The null

hypothesis is rejected as the p value is less than 0.01. It is inferred the relationship between



ISSN : 0950-0707

Page No : 560

educational stream of women employees and their perception on ‘OTP ensures additional

security’ is significant. It is further noted that the chi square value assessing the association

between educational stream of women employees and their perception on ‘smart phone is

enough’ was 10.848 and the p value was 0.210. Therefore, it is concluded that there is no

significant relationship between educational stream of women employees and their perception

on ‘smart phone is enough’.

MONTHLY INCOME AND PERCEPTION TOWARDS CASHLESS ECONOMY

Null Hypothesis H0: There is no significant relationship between monthly income of the

women employees in IT sector and their perception towards the benefits of cashless economy

Alternative Hypothesis H1: There is a significant relationship between monthly income of

the women employees in IT sector and their perception towards the benefit of cashless

economy.

TABLE 4

MONTHLY INCOME AND PERCEPTION TOWARDS CASHLESS ECONOMY









From the Table 4 it is divulged that the chi square value stating the relationship

between monthly income of the women employees working in IT sector and their perception

on ‘need not carry cash’ was computed to be 53.264 and the p value of 0.000. Since the p

value was less than 0.01, the null hypothesis is rejected and it is concluded that there exists a

significant relationship between monthly income of the women employees working in IT

sector and their perception on ‘need not carry cash’. The computed value of chi square

measuring the relationship between monthly income of the respondents and their perception

on ‘safe and secure’ was 127.27 and the p value was found to be 0.000. The null hypothesis

is rejected as the p value was less than 0.01. Therefore, it is inferred that the relationship

between monthly income of women employees working in IT sector and their perception on

‘safe and secure’ is significant. The relationship between monthly income of women

employees working in IT sector and their perception on ‘easier and faster’ was measured in

terms of chi square value of 12.693 and the p value was ascertained to be 0.392. The null



ISSN : 0950-0707

Page No : 561

hypothesis is accepted and it is concluded that the monthly income of the women employees

working in IT sector was not significantly related to their perception on ‘easier and faster’.


monthly income of women employees working in IT sector and their perception on ‘anytime

and anywhere’ was found to be 47.231 and the p value was 0.000. Since the p value was less

than 0.01, it falls in the rejection region and the null hypothesis is rejected. It is inferred that

the relationship between monthly income of the women employees working in IT sector and

their perception on ‘anywhere and anytime’ is significant. The chi square value determining

the relationship between monthly income of women employees working in IT sector and their

perception on ‘convenient’ was computed to be 26.709 and the p value was 0.009. The null

hypothesis is rejected as the p value is less than 0.01. It is therefore proclaimed that there

exists a significant relationship between monthly income of the women employees and their

perception on ‘convenient’.


between monthly income of women employees and their perception on ‘OTP ensures

additional security’ was ascertained to be 49.828 while the p value was 0.000. The null

hypothesis is rejected as the p value is less than 0.01. It is inferred the relationship between

monthly income of women employees and their perception on ‘OTP ensures additional

security’ is significant. It is further noted that the chi square value assessing the association

between monthly income of women employees and their perception on ‘smart phone is

enough’ was 30.506 and the p value was 0.002. Therefore, it is concluded that there is a

significant relationship between monthly income of women employees and their perception

on ‘smart phone is enough’.

MARITAL STATUS AND PERCEPTION TOWARDS CASHLESS ECONOMY

Null Hypothesis H0: There is no significant relationship between marital status of the women

employees in IT sector and their perception towards the benefits of cashless economy

Alternative Hypothesis H1: There is a significant relationship between marital status of the

women employees in IT sector and their perception towards the benefit of cashless economy

TABLE 5

MARITAL STATUS AND PERCEPTION TOWARDS CASHLESS ECONOMY





Anywhere and anytime 9.331 4 0.053 Not Significant



ISSN : 0950-0707

Page No : 562




It could be evinced from the Table 5 that the chi square value stating the relationship

between marital status of the women employees working in IT sector and their perception on

‘need not carry cash’ was computed to be 29.832 and the p value of 0.000. Since the p value


significant relationship between marital status of the women employees working in IT sector

and their perception on ‘need not carry cash’. The computed value of chi square measuring

the relationship between marital status of the respondents and their perception on ‘safe and

secure’ was 51.302 and the p value was found to be 0.000. The null hypothesis is rejected as

the p value was less than 0.01. Therefore, it is inferred that the relationship between marital

status of women employees working in IT sector and their perception on ‘safe and secure’ is

significant. The relationship between marital status of women employees working in IT

sector and their perception on ‘easier and faster’ was measured in terms of chi square value of

5.529 and the p value was ascertained to be 0.237. The null hypothesis is accepted and it is

concluded that the marital status of the women employees working in IT sector was not

significantly related to their perception on ‘easier and faster’.


marital status of women employees working in IT sector and their perception on ‘anytime and

anywhere’ was found to be 9.331 and the p value was 0.053. Since the p value was greater

than 0.01, it falls in the acceptance region and the null hypothesis is accepted. It is inferred

that the relationship between marital status of the women employees working in IT sector and

their perception on ‘anywhere and anytime’ is not significant. The chi square value

determining the relationship between marital status of women employees working in IT

sector and their perception on ‘convenient’ was computed to be 30.725 and the p value was

0.000. The null hypothesis is rejected as the p value is less than 0.01. It is therefore

proclaimed that there exists a significant relationship between marital status of the women

employees and their perception on ‘convenient’.


between marital status of women employees and their perception on ‘OTP ensures additional

security’ was ascertained to be 29.695 while the p value was 0.000. The null hypothesis is

rejected as the p value is less than 0.01. It is inferred the relationship between marital status

of women employees and their perception on ‘OTP ensures additional security’ is significant.



ISSN : 0950-0707

Page No : 563

It is further noted that the chi square value assessing the association between marital status of

women employees and their perception on ‘smart phone is enough’ was 15.307 and the p

value was 0.004. Therefore, it is concluded that there is a significant relationship between

marital status of women employees and their perception on ‘smart phone is enough’.

FINDINGS

The major findings of the study have been summarized below:

It is found that the greatest proportion of women employees in IT sector were

pertaining to the age group of 20 to 40 years while the lowest proportion of women

employees were belonging to above 50 years. Among the educational streams – Arts, Science

and Engineering, the most of the women employees have completed their education under

engineering stream. It denotes the IT sector employs graduates from engineering stream

more than any other streams.

The analysis of monthly income reveals that the highest proportion of women

employees was earning a monthly income of Rs. 20001 to Rs. 40000. The high income

earning women employees (Above Rs. 60000) constituted the lowest proportion of women

employees in IT sector. It could be understood that most of the women employees in IT

sector were singles. The perception of women employees towards ‘Need not carry cash’ and

‘Safe and Secure’ has been significantly related to age, educational stream, monthly income

and marital status. It is observed that age, educational stream, monthly income and marital

status have significant association with the perception of women employees towards ‘OTP

ensures additional security’. The results imply that the age of the women employees and their

perception towards ‘Easier and faster’ were significantly related while the there has been no

significant relationship between educational stream, monthly income and marital status of

women employees and their perception towards ‘Easier and faster’.

It could be realized that there existed a significant relationship between perception of

women employees towards ‘Convenient’ and ‘Smart phone is enough’ and their age, monthly

income and marital status.

The relationship between the perception of women employees towards ‘Anywhere

and anytime’ and their age, educational stream and monthly income is significant.

SUGGESTIONS

The following suggestions have been offered on the basis of the findings of the study:

1. Old age women employees shall be encouraged to take part in the cashless economy

and higher rate of cash back offer shall be given to them.



ISSN : 0950-0707

Page No : 564

2. All the banks shall come forward to develop high-security mobile apps for increasing

the convenience and compatibility of women employees to involve in cashless

economy.

3. Bio-metric password system shall be introduced for making and receiving cashless

payments in order to enhance the security.

4. It is suggested that the Government should monitor the cashless transactions in order

to ensure the safety and security of the consumers.

5. Cyber crime has been the most affecting reason for less use of cashless transactions.

Therefore, it should be ensured that the cyber crime has been checked and controlled.

6. The consumers should be educated not to share OTP to anybody in order to control

the cyber crimes.

CONCLUSION

In the present study, an attempt has been made to understand the perception of women

employees working in IT sector towards the cashless economy. After critical examinations,

seven factors influencing cashless economy have been selected and the level of agreement of

the women employees towards these factors has been assessed using a structured

questionnaire among the women employees in IT sector. It is concluded that the consumers

have started using cashless transaction for almost all the financial transactions. Cashless

economy is one of the best financial reforms implemented by the country. It enables the

people to make and receive payments through digital mode easily and quickly. It helps

women, particularly working women to perform financial transactions safely and securely.

The study has revealed that the cashless economy has been widely accepted by the

consumers. However, adaptability level is low among old age people as disclosed in the

analysis made in this study. It is certain that the adaptation of cashless economy will grow in

India rapidly.

REFERENCES

1. Richa Goel et al (2019). “Moving from Cash to Cashless Economy – A Study of

Consumer Perception towards Digital Transactions”. International Journal of Recent

Technology and Engineering. 8(1):1220-1226.

2. Alka Rank and Punit Kumar (2018). “Cashless Economy: Meaning, Method & Impact

on economy”. National Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development,

3(1):211-216.

3. Madhu Gaba and Manisha Nagpal (2017)."Cashless Economy – Problems and

Prospects”. International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology. 5(11):1-2



ISSN : 0950-0707

Page No : 565

Documents

PERCEPTION OF WOMEN EMPLOYEES IN IT SECTOR TOWARDS ...journalstd.com/gallery/61-dec2019.pdf · perception of consumers towards cashless economy. Women employees in IT sector have