Relay of Responsibility: A Triadic Sequential SEM Approach to Ethical AI Governance in Fintech Ecosystems

ABSTRACT

As artificial intelligence increasingly permeates Indian fintech ecosystems, ethical implications of algorithmic decision‐making—fairness, transparency, accountability—demand multi‐stakeholder governance amid rapid digital transformation. This study introduces the Relay of Responsibility framework, a triadic sequential model tracing how Indian users' ( n  = 385) perceptions of fairness and transparency influence fintech firms' ( n  = 60) ethical readiness and explainability, shaping policymakers' ( n  = 30) governance priorities. Employing Triadic Sequential SEM (TS‐SEM) grounded in Fairness Heuristic, Stakeholder, and Institutional Theories, findings confirm significant paths (e.g., fairness → readiness β  = 0.431, p  < 0.001) positioning firms as ethical intermediaries translating societal expectations into regulatory signals. Theoretically advancing AI ethics beyond dyadics and practically guiding trust‐building in emerging markets, this India‐contextualized research pioneers non‐nested multi‐informant modeling for fintech governance.