Fintech use linked to mixed psychological effects among finance workers

Financial technology use was associated with lower psychological meaningfulness and safety but greater psychological availability among 934 Chinese employees working in the financial industry, according to a survey study examining how technology use relates to perceived work productivity. The researchers reported that meaningfulness, safety and availability together explained 46.7% of the variation in employees’ perceived productivity gains attributed to fintech use. In the fitted model, the association between fintech use and perceived productivity was fully mediated by those three psychological conditions.

The study, published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, used a questionnaire survey to examine the work experiences of employees in China’s financial sector. The analysis considered employees’ reported fintech use, their responses on these three dimensions, their perceived productivity gains attributable to fintech and the degree to which they were open to change. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to analyze the survey responses.

The model found that greater fintech use was statistically associated with reduced psychological meaningfulness and psychological safety, but with enhanced psychological availability. Employees reporting stronger meaningfulness, safety and availability also tended to report greater perceived work productivity. Because the productivity outcome concerned gains perceived by employees and attributed by them to fintech use, the result does not establish that fintech increased independently measured output.

The full mediation finding also means that the fitted model did not retain a direct association between fintech use and perceived productivity once the three psychological conditions were included. The authors proposed several mechanisms that could help explain the contrasting pattern. They said that automation of core tasks may reduce task significance and thereby weaken psychological meaningfulness.

They also suggested that the complexity of technological systems may undermine psychological safety. In the opposite direction, streamlined workflows may free up employees’ resources and thereby enhance psychological availability. These explanations were interpretations of the survey-based associations, not experimentally established causes.

The study did not directly manipulate task automation, system complexity or workflow efficiency to determine which mechanism produced each measured response. Openness to change intensified parts of the pattern. Employees who were more receptive to change showed a stronger negative association between fintech use and psychological meaningfulness, as well as a stronger positive association between fintech use and psychological availability.

The moderation analysis therefore indicated that responses to fintech were not uniform: greater readiness for change appeared to amplify both an adverse relationship with meaningfulness and a beneficial relationship with availability. The evidence comes from a survey of employees in one industry and one country, so it cannot establish causal effects, changes over time or the likely experience of workers in other sectors. It identifies an asymmetric psychological pattern associated with fintech use, rather than a simple relationship in which greater technological use corresponds to uniformly better or worse work experiences.

Subject of Research: Psychological conditions linking fintech use with perceived productivity among financial-industry employees

Article Title: Fintech at work: examining the psychological mechanisms linking fintech use and work productivity in the financial industry

Article References: Lee, J.-C., Sun, J., & Bi, L. (2026). Fintech at work: examining the psychological mechanisms linking fintech use and work productivity in the financial industry. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-026-08769-6

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-026-08769-6

Keywords: fintech, work productivity, psychological meaningfulness, psychological safety, psychological availability, financial industry, work engagement, automation, survey research, openness to change, work, examining