Institutional Trust, Risk-Taking, and FinTech Adoption: Evidence from an Emerging Economy

This paper explores the relationship between risk-taking attitudes, different dimensions of trust, and the adoption of financial technology (FinTech) in an emerging Central European economy. Based on survey data collected via LimeSurvey (October to December 2025) in Hungary, multivariate linear regression models were estimated to explore the relationship between FinTech usage, individual risk-taking propensity, and four dimensions of trust, while controlling for socioeconomic variables. The results indicate that higher institutional trust in independent financial actors facilitates FinTech adoption. However, higher institutional trust in domestic financial and governmental actors has an inhibiting effect. When trust dimensions are added to the model, the positive association with general risk-taking propensity becomes statistically marginal, indicating that trust-related factors account for a substantial share of the observed variation. Further tests regarding the possible direction of this causation confirm that FinTech use is also linked to increased trust in independent financial actors. This study adds to the FinTech literature by demonstrating that usage is related not only to generalized trust and individual risk propensity but also to differentiated institutional trust attitudes. The findings highlight that institutional background is an important determinant of digital financial behavior in emerging economies.