For decades, the technology acceptance model (TAM) has been validated by studies to discern its predictive power. However, scholars have noted that the assumptions in TAM can incomprehensively address the demands of people in modern technologies. The current study, therefore, extends the capabilities of TAM to predict the acceptance levels of the people-to-people (P2P) services of the WeChat wallet in South Africa. The findings show that, in addition to the constructs in TAM, other pivotal factors that influence the behavior of South Africans to adopt WeChat wallet are trust, security, and privacy. Using the structural equation modeling tool for analysis, we found that the proposed model explains acceptable variances in the predictors: 51%, 25%, and 21% in relative advantage or perceived usefulness as used in TAM, privacy, and P2P, respectively, an evidence that may stimulate scholarly discussions in the future. These findings highlight that people in South Africa may adopt and use the WeChat wallet application if the proposed predictors are considered. •Behavioral factors for the adoption of WeChat wallet have been identified.•The technology acceptance model (TAM) has been extended to incorporate the factors.•Trust, security, and privacy have been found to predict human behavior in WeChat adoption.•Constructs of the original TAM have been validated in light of the WeChat application.•The proposed model explains acceptable variances in the predictors.