Factors that influence the adoption of cell phone banking in South Africa
Date
2011-06-10
Authors
Sankar, Dione
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Abstract
Cell Phone Banking is a relatively new electronic banking channel which
promised much in terms of servicing all banked customers, particularly those
customer segments who don’t readily have access to the Internet. However, the
adoption of Cell Phone Banking has been slow when compared to internet
channel adoption and also to the growth of cell phone subscribers in the South
African market.
The purpose of this research was to identify the factors that influence the
adoption of Cell Phone Banking in South Africa. The aim was to review the
factors identified from previous research that could potentially influence the
adoption Cell Phone Banking and to then test whether the identified proposed
factors were applicable to the South African market.
Data was collected via a survey questionnaire that was distributed physically to
South African bank branches in Gauteng and to some identified corporate
environments. A total of 174 surveys were collected, of which 153 responses
were fully completed, and were used for the data analysis. The demographical
and technology usage profiles were analysed and discussed using graphs. A
confirmatory factor analysis was applied to the data collected to determine
whether the factors proposed were relevant and applicable for the South African
banking customer.
It was found that the South Africa person most likely to adopt Cell Phone Banking
was between the ages of 18 to 35, would have at least a Matric qualification
(secondary education) and would earn at least a gross income of R100,000 per
annum.
It was concluded from the factor analysis that the five factors proposed namely
perceived value, perceived risk, trialability, perceived credibility and perceived
complexity, were indeed factors that would influence the adoption of Cell Phone
Banking in South Africa.
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From the perceived value aspect, users perceived that convenience and time
saving to be major items that influenced this factor. The perceived risk factor and
perceived credibility factor highlighted that security and trust of the technology
were major influencing factors towards the adoption of Cell Phone Banking
respectively.
The trialability factor was found to be important towards the adoption of Cell
Phone Banking in South Africa. The reason provided for this was that customers
wanted to have flexibility before actually being registered for the service. Lastly
the factor of perceived complexity was also found to be important but compared
to the other factors it was the least important factor. The reason provided for this
was that the technology used for Cell Phone Banking was still relatively unknown
and this was confirmed by the lack of understanding that the sample group
showed when ranking the technologies in terms of ease of use.
Description
MBA - WBS
Keywords
Cell phone banking, Mobile banking, Banks and banking